The ball cut the spot Frank had just evacuated, and striking against the rocks, exploded there.
Up jumped the young inventor, and he ran along until he arrived opposite the split rocks.
But he failed to see the fugitive as Frank had gone around a bend in the opening, and was then hidden from view.
As he could not do anything there, he hastened back to the Terror, sprang aboard, and started her back the way she came from, at the same time telling his friends what happened.
Jack made a wide detour, and passed the end of the gorge.
The stream there broadened and became so shallow that he easily drove the stage through it.
Reaching the other side, he began a search for Frank, but it finally proved to be in vain.
The shadows of twilight fell when he finally gave up the hunt and headed for a tiny hamlet near where he was.
It was a place which had built up about a general store, at which the stage coach, paused which carried passengers from the northern railroads who wished to make connections with the smaller branch lines dissecting that portion of the state.
At this place–called Jones' Corners–there was a big surprise in store for our friends.