“Why—why—”
“Don't think too fast. A man died that way once.”
“There's an empty house about a mile from here.”
“All right, we 'll make for that. I want you, Van Deelen, to hitch up a wagon and come on after us as quick as you can.”
The farmer turned at once and walked rapidly up the road.
“Spencer hasn't much start of us,” said Beveridge, as the three men started in the opposite direction.
“He couldn't have. It took him a good while to work down here in that boat. We 'll get him if he keeps the road.”
“He 'll have to do that. If he took to the woods, he would be lost in an hour—and that means starvation.”
Pink ventured a pleasantry, “Maybe he's got a compass,” of which the special agent took not the slightest notice; but said, turning to Smiley, “How are your legs, Dick?”
“Fine. Trim as they make them.”