Seite 201 von 439

"Tha's what I told him, but Jimmie says he heard Tom Peake say

so. Jimmie says this town will be full o' folks by night."

Without waiting to hear any more of Jimmie's prophecies, Fraser

followed the trail till it reached a waterfall Brandt bad

mentioned, then struck sharply to the right. In a little bunch of

scrub oaks he found a saddled horse tied to a sapling. His

instructions were to cross the road, which ran parallel with the

stream, and follow the gulch that led to the river. Half an

hour's travel brought him to another road. Into this he turned,

and followed it.

In a desperate hurry though he was, Steve dared not show it. He

held his piebald broncho to the ambling trot a cowpony naturally

drops into. From his coat pocket he flashed a mouthharp for use

in emergency.