“Gale! Who fired those shots? Gale! Are you hurt?”
Gale made no reply. Instead, pistol in hand, she strode across the rocks toward the pines. Arrived there, she parted the branches to find herself staring into a wide empty space beyond.
She stood there staring in surprise. No living creature was there.
Her eyes swept the place in all directions. Then she looked down. There, almost at her feet, was a thing covered with leather. It was like a shoe. There was a strap attached to it. The strap had been cut by a bullet.
With a low cry she picked the thing up and thrust it deep into the pocket of her coat. Then stepping back over the rocks, she called:
“Jan! Lower the cable. I’m ready to come up.”
“Cable coming down,” was the instant reply.
CHAPTER XXIII
This Is the Zero Hour
That night Gale kept her resolve to listen in on Jimmie’s wave-length at ten, and with startling results.
Half an hour later an orderly from headquarters was at the door of her tent to say that the colonel wanted to see her at once.