In spite of the nearness of Burnnel’s party, Sandy almost shouted out the words.
Both boys stared, as if under some queer mesmeric spell. They watched the red blob move along the line of brush and disappear with magic abruptness. It came back again, however, in a very few minutes—only in a different place. Again it remained perfectly stationary, then fluttered behind a rock. In its second re-appearance, it moved toward the brink of the river and, suddenly, instead of being merely a red blob, mysteriously it formed itself into the unmistakable outline of a human figure.
“Some one in a red mackinaw,” declared Sandy, laughing.
“In a police tunic, you mean,” Dick corrected him, commencing to hurry into his clothes.
“What! A mounted policeman?”
“Exactly that. Why, you can see his broad-rimmed hat and heavy top-boots.”
CHAPTER XIX
ACROSS HAY RIVER
“I’d like to go over there,” said Dick, “but if we do, Burnnel and Emery will be sure to see us. We don’t want that to happen. Our best plan is to wait until after we ford the river. Then, if he hasn’t already left the vicinity, we’ll find out who he is.”
“I know one thing,” Sandy declared confidently, “and that is he’s not from the Mackenzie River detachment.”
“I’m not so sure. It may be our old friend, Sergeant Richardson.”