He paused. A thrilling thought had struck him.
It was more than likely that he had been waiting all this while for nothing.
It would have been not by any means a difficult matter for the foe to have slipped out by a rear exit, and by this time be far from the spot.
But how was he to determine this fact.
It could only be done by approaching the hut boldly and searching it.
To do this was to incur the risk of a bullet from the outlaws.
This might be only a clever trick of theirs to draw him from his covert.
All these thoughts passed kaleidoscope-like through Barrow’s brain.
He was satisfied that the foe could be but a half dozen in number.
If he could have kept up a desultory battle with them in his present position he believed that he could have picked off a number of them, and thus reducing their numbers eventually bring the fight to a focus with a fair chance of winning.