“It may be exciting for them before the matter is settled,” he replied. “Funny for you and Marshall to have run into a place of that character, when I thought we were living out in the wilderness. Please tell me exactly what happened, Peg?”
Peggy chanced to be sitting alone beside her brother about five minutes after her return to camp, Ralph Marshall not yet having come back from his errand. Mrs. Webster and Vera had both departed to help with dinner, suggesting that Peggy remain and rest after her long ride, as they would attend to her share of the work.
Peggy sat with her shoulders hunched up and, leaning forward, talked quickly.
“Odd, wasn’t it? Ralph and I had dropped behind the others and were talking. We had ridden away from the neighborhood of the canyons through the pine woods. Then, quite suddenly, we came upon a group of tents. You see we had gotten off the road and in some places had gone single file in between the trees.”
“I don’t wonder they were surprised at your turning up,” Billy commented.
“Surprised!” Peggy’s tone was reflective. “I think that is putting the case pretty mildly, Billy. The men were extremely angry at our riding calmly into what they doubtless believed their secret hiding place. Their tents were in a little hollow, with hills and trees around them. The men were sitting before the fire smoking, when I came upon them. As I chanced to be in front, one of them jumped up, said something ugly, and then grabbed my bridle.”
Billy Webster frowned. “Were you frightened, Peggy?”
The girl had dropped back on the ground and was now lying with her hands clasped under her head.
“No, I don’t think so; I was too amazed. Besides, Ralph Marshall rode up almost at once and explained that we had lost our way. The trouble now is, I am so curious. The men were very rough and were undoubtedly in hiding or they would never have behaved so strangely. Yet surely we are past the days in the West when stage coaches and trains used to be held up, aren’t we? Besides, these men had women and children with them.”
Some one was at this instant coming toward them and Billy glanced around. It was odd how much animation, even determination, had lately come into his ordinarily listless face and manner.