“I can’t help feeling uneasy, Ray,” said Sidney as they went on, “about what will happen when those men are found.”
“I’m not going to worry, Sid. As you said, there was nothing else we could do.”
The boys soon reached the gorge, where the bandits had, probably, planned to waylay them. It was an ideal spot for such an enterprise. The opening was narrow, and the cliffs on either side were ragged and broken, affording the best possible place for concealment. The boys were quite sure if they had gone on the night before that they would not then be traveling.
A short distance above the entrance to the gorge they came upon two horses tied with ropes. The animals were fully accoutered, carrying bridles and saddles. They had evidently been tied there many hours, for they had restlessly tramped the ground within the length of their tethers, and they whinnied entreatingly when they saw the boys.
“Gee, Sid,” exclaimed Raymond when he saw the animals, “those horses must have belonged to the bandits, and they’re just the ticket for us.”
“It would never in this world do for us to take them, Ray. That would make it look as though we had killed the men for their horses.”
“You don’t mean you’re going to leave them here?”
“That’s exactly what I mean.”
“Why, that would be outrageous, Sid, when we need horses so badly, and we are sure the owners were those dead men.”
“Nothing under Heaven could make me touch those horses, Ray.”