Growing impatient as time went by without any action, the rest of the avengers were suddenly roused to attention by the discovery of the glow from the flames.
“Where’ll we put the ponies?” asked Dude. “We ought to have them far enough away so they won’t be frightened by the fire.”
“Take ’em out a couple of hundred yards on the plains,” directed the owner of the Double Cross. “They’ll be safe there, and we can reach them in time to dash to the South before the flames get us.”
Quickly this order was obeyed, and the men spread out to cover as much ground as possible, that their quarry might not escape them.
Eagerly they awaited a sight of Scalping Louie, guns held against their shoulders.
But, though denizens of the swamps, of all sorts and descriptions, swarmed forth, never the sight of a human being did they catch.
Already the heat of the flames was becoming intense.
“Do you think he’s got by us?” shouted Bowser to Hawks.
“I don’t see how X——”
But his words were never finished.