“By heavens! Shackelford, I thought I had finished you! I never missed a shot before, in all my life; but we’ll take care that your life ends now. Where are the boys?”
The girls heard a coarse laugh, which Lina Aiken knew came from Shackelford.
“What shall we do now, Mabel?”
“Continue our journey. They have not caught the two boys—only Frontier Shack, as the hunter is called. We may yet escape.”
Again they started forward; but soon realized that all was lost.
Every lodge was pouring forth its living humanity, and the fugitives suddenly dropped to the ground, where, with wildly-throbbing hearts they awaited developments.
The winds blew from the mountains, and brought distant sounds distinctly to their ears.
Suddenly they heard the tramp of horses, and knew that some persons were flying from the Apache camp.
“Mabel, listen! we were so near them!”
A sigh, a low “yes,” told that the fugitives were on the brink of safety and yet did not know it.