“This is how narrow my escape was!” he declared. “An inch nearer and my career would have been closed.”
“It’s glad I am, sor, that it was not,” said Barney.
“Dat am jes’ so,” declared Pomp.
“Thank you,” said the gold seeker, with a thrill of pleasure. “Your kind words are gratifying.”
But so intent had they been on watching the brigands below that they had failed to note a more serious calamity which now threatened them.
All this while the copper hue had been increasing the sky.
The livid hue upon the horizon had deepened, and a gust of wind, with a mournful sough and wail, swept across the country.
The sun was in a yellow mist, and a dark shadow was beginning to creep over the land.
Harding was the first to note this.
A sharp, startled cry escaped his lips.