“It’s just down there,” answered Minnie, “but I don’t see Jim,” she added, looking about uneasily.
“Well, really——” began Miss Campbell, and paused.
The notion that Jim might not be there to guide them out of this wild country had never come to any of them.
“He’s had a long ways to go to get here,” said Minnie. “He’s had to travel all night on horseback, but if nothin’ happens to him, Jim’ll keep his word. He ain’t never broke it in his life.”
This was reassuring in one way, but discouraging in another—if nothing happened! Why had it not occurred to them that many, many things could happen?
Miss Campbell looked reproachfully at Daniel Moore.
“Don’t be uneasy,” he said. “I daresay we can get a guide if Jim doesn’t show up.”
The road now took a downward turn so precipitate that they wondered how the emigrant vans of the Mormons which had once traveled this way had been prevented from rolling over the horses and pitching headlong down the incline.
But the Comet made the down grade slowly and deliberately. Back of them they could see the road winding around the side of the mountain. Suddenly a group of horsemen came into sight around the curve. They were mere specks of black against the white roadway at this distance, but Minnie recognized them.
“Jim!” she called, her voice rising to a high treble, “Jim, man, it’s the sheriff!”