The coupe turned onto the main highway, and started up the winding mountain road. Judy saw Diethelm glance anxiously at the gasoline gauge.
Her pulse leaped with hope, for she saw that the pointer already stood on the empty mark, and was giving only an occasional convulsive jerk.
“We’re about out of gas,” Diethelm muttered.
“No filling stations on this road for three miles,” Judy said in satisfaction.
“We rangers have supply caches,” Diethelm dashed her hopes again. “My own private one is just ahead.”
A few hundred yards farther up the road, he pulled off onto the right-of-way. Back among the trees, Judy and Kathleen saw the gasoline supply tank, marked with the Forest Service name.
Diethelm reached for a can on the floor behind the seat. As he got out of the car, he tapped the revolver in his holster.
“Now don’t you move or try to get out of this car!” he ordered. “I’ll have my eye on you. I’m warning that if you try to escape, I’ll shoot.”
Diethelm then strode to the gasoline storage tank, hurriedly starting to fill his can.
“Lean forward—block off the window, so he can’t see me,” Judy instructed Kathleen tersely.