Corporal Rand regarded the statement with approval.
“Work is the right name for it,” he assured him. “I haven’t the least doubt but that you’ll all become discouraged long before you find the cache. In fact, you may never find it. You’ll encounter dangers and difficulties on every hand.”
“Do you think the cache will be guarded?” asked Dick.
“Almost sure to be,” Rand replied. “Probably by some Indian or half-breed. You’ll be compelled to move cautiously. If I were you, I wouldn’t take too many chances. No telling what sort of a mess you’ll get in, if you aren’t incessantly on the alert.”
Dick would have liked to ask the policeman a few more questions, but decided not to as he observed the other sleepily consulting his watch. The hour was getting late. The sounds from the trading room, which a short time before could be heard faintly, had now entirely ceased. The place had become enveloped in a deep and slumberous silence.
Corporal Rand suppressed a yawn, rose slowly to his feet.
“It’s time we were both in bed,” he announced. “If either one of us expects to get anything accomplished tomorrow, it will be necessary to secure some sleep. I’ve had a rather hard day myself.”
With a friendly nod and a smile, he turned and walked out of the room. Dick stood in the doorway and watched him for a moment, a happy expression on his face. Rand’s figure continued down the hallway. A few feet farther on was the corporal’s room. Dick stepped back to re-enter his own chamber, when, to his surprise, he perceived that the policeman did not even pause in front of his own door, but went on instead to the end of the hallway and immediately disappeared through a door which opened to the yard outside.
“He’s gone out to see if his horse is bedded down for the night,” thought Dick.
For some reason he could not himself explain, Dick stood in his own doorway, awaiting the corporal’s return. The minutes passed by. A quarter of an hour elapsed—and still no sign of the mounted policeman. Growing impatient, Dick commenced pacing back and forth along the hallway. Presently, moved by an unexplained impulse, he dashed into his room, seized his cap and followed in the footsteps of Rand.