"By thunder! They may have been Sue and some of the Priors. Perhaps the people have made it so hot for them they've had to flee. Come on, we'll follow and find out!
"By the blood of my mother! If the citizens of the Springs have driven them out, we'll go back and shoot that burg up if we never do another thing!"
Yet before they could put the words into action they were treated to a second, and still greater, surprise.
The sound of fast running horses again fell on their ears from the direction whence the three women and man had come.
"Sit tight," whispered Jesse. "There's something in the wind. We'll follow when they get by."
Scarcely had the words left his lips than around the turn in the highway dashed six horsemen, rifles at a ready.
Fearful lest they hear the crackling of the bushes, the bandits waited till the hoof-beats were almost inaudible, then bounded into the roadway and gave chase.
Riding like fiends till they were within sight of the last group of equestrians, Jesse slowed down to a pace at which he could watch them from a safe distance.
For minutes, that seemed hours, the strange procession advanced, the first group in ignorance of the two behind it and the second unaware that it was followed.
Then, of a sudden, a voice from a horseman in the middle shouted: