Next
there was a click like that of iron striking against rock. Evidently
they were leading the horses around on the far side of the house.
With a trembling hand he relighted his cigarette and waited, waited,
waited. Then he saw them pass below the house! They were dimly
stalking figures in the night, but to Buck it seemed as though they
walked in the blaze of ten thousand searchlights. He held his breath
in expectancy of that mocking laugh from the house--that sharp command
to halt--that crack of the revolver.
Yet nothing happened. Now he caught the click of the horses' iron
shoes against the rocks farther and farther down the valley. Still no
sound from the ranch house. They were safe!
It was then that the great temptation seized on Buck.
It would be simple enough for him to break away. He could walk to the
stable, saddle his horse, and tear past the ranch house as fast as his
pony could gallop. By the time the outlaws were ready for the pursuit,
he would be a mile or more away, and in the hills such a handicap was
enough. One thing held him. It was frail and subtle like the invisible
net of the enchanter--that word he had passed to Jim Silent, to see
that nothing came up the valley and to appear in the ranch house at
sunrise.
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