“Shorest thing you know,” agreed Lance.
“My! I’d like to see them married,” cried Tavia.
“And is her father following them, do you suppose, Mr. Lance?” asked Dorothy Dale, anxiously.
“Ef he knows they’ve started you kin bet he’s after ’em—hot foot! Unless Colt throwed an’ tied him fust,” added Lance.
“Mercy! is that somebody coming behind us now?” asked Tavia, delighted at this entirely new source of interest.
But this was a false alarm. The three did ride faster, however, although Lance warned the girls that the distance to Killock was too far for them to hurry the ponies much.
“These yere cayuses air all tuh th’ good,” declared the cowboy. “But there ain’t no use in runnin’ their leetle legs off right now. Somebody else may wanter use ’em after we git through.”
“But that eloping couple were tearing away as fast as they could go,” complained Tavia.
“I ’low a shotgun in the rear will make a man ride fast,” chuckled Lance.
“Aren’t they going to the same town we are?” asked Tavia.