Phil was sound asleep in bed when a noise of some kind brought him partly back to sensibility. He turned uneasily. The noise came again. Someone was throwing gravel up at his window. He jumped out of bed, pulled out the sliding screen-window and looked over.
A man on horseback was below.
“That you, Phil?”
“Yes!”
The horseman was Howden, the recently promoted Police Chief.
“Big things doing! If you’re game for a night ride, wake Jim and both of you come down quick. We’re shy of men and you two have a pair of good horses.”
“What is it?”
“Tell you when you come. Bring a gun, and hurry, for every minute counts.”
Phil went to Jim’s room across the passage. Jim, ever ready for an adventure, was on the floor in a second; and both were dressed and downstairs in five minutes.
“Won’t a car take us quicker?”