John Ferrier felt a different man now that he realized that he hada devoted ally. He seized the young man’s leathery hand and wrungit cordially. “You’re a man to be proud of,” he said. “There are notmany who would come to share our danger and our troubles.”
“You’ve hit it there, pard,” the young hunter answered. “I havea respect for you, but if you were alone in this business I’d thinktwice before I put my head into such a hornet’s nest. It’s Lucy thatbrings me here, and before harm comes on her I guess there willbe one less o’ the Hope family in Utah.”
“What are we to do?”
“To-morrow is your last day, and unless you act to-night you arelost. I have a mule and two horses waiting in the Eagle Ravine.
How much money have you?”
“Two thousand dollars in gold, and five in notes.”
“That will do. I have as much more to add to it. We must pushfor Carson City through the mountains. You had best wake Lucy.
It is as well that the servants do not sleep in the house.”
While Ferrier was absent, preparing his daughter for theapproaching journey, Jefferson Hope packed all the eatables thathe could find into a small parcel, and filled a stoneware jar withwater, for he knew by experience that the mountain wells werefew and far between. He had hardly completed his arrangementsbefore the farmer returned with his daughter all dressed and readyfor a start. The greeting between the lovers was warm, but brief,for minutes were precious, and there was much to be done.
“We must make our start at once,” said Jefferson Hope, speakingin a low but resolute voice, like one who realizes the greatness ofthe peril, but has steeled his heart to meet it. “The front and backentrances are watched, but with caution we may get away throughthe side window and across the fields. Once on the road we areonly two miles from the Ravine where the horses are waiting. Bydaybreak we should be halfway through the mountains.”
“What if we are stopped?” asked Ferrier.
Hope slapped the revolver butt which protruded from the frontof his tunic. “If they are too many for us, we shall take two orthree of them with us,” he said with a sinister smile.
The lights inside the house had all been extinguished, and fromthe darkened window Ferrier peered over the fields which hadbeen his own, and which he was now about to abandon forever.
He had long nerved himself to the sacrifice, however, and thethought of the honour and happiness of his daughter outweighedany regret at his ruined fortunes. All looked so peaceful and happy,the rustling trees and the broad silent stretch of grainland, thatit was difficult to realize that the spirit of murder lurked throughit all. Yet the white face and set expression of the young huntershowed that in his approach to the house he had seen enough tosatisfy him upon that head.
Ferrier carried the bag of gold and notes, Jefferson Hope hadthe scanty provisions and water, while Lucy had a small bundlecontaining a few of her more valued possessions. Opening thewindow very slowly and carefully, they waited until a dark cloudhad somewhat obscured the night, and then one by one passedthrough into the little garden. With bated breath and crouchingfigures they stumbled across it, and gained the shelter of thehedge, which they skirted until they came to the gap whichopened into the cornfields. They had just reached this point whenthe young man seized his two companions and dragged themdown into the shadow, where they lay silent and trembling.
It was as well that his prairie training had given Jefferson Hopethe ears of a lynx. He and his friends had hardly crouched downbefore the melancholy hooting of a mountain owl was heardwithin a few yards of them, which was immediately answered byanother hoot at a small distance. At the same moment a vague,shadowy figure emerged from the gap for which they had beenmaking, and uttered the plaintive signal cry again, on which asecond man appeared out of the obscurity.
“To-morrow at midnight,” said the first, who appeared to be inauthority. “when the whippoorwill calls three times.”
“It is well,” returned the other. “Shall I tell Brother Drebber?”
“Pass it on to him, and from him to the others. Nine to seven!”
“Seven to five!” repeated the other, and the two figures flittedaway in different directions. Their concluding words had evidentlybeen some form of sign and countersign. The instant that theirfootsteps had died away in the distance, Jefferson Hope sprangto his feet, and helping his companions through the gap, led theway across the fields at the top of his speed, supporting and halfcarryingthe girl when her strength appeared to fail her.
“Hurry on! hurry on!” he gasped from time to time. “We arethrough the line of sentinels. Everything depends on speed. Hurryon!”
Once on the high road they made rapid progress. Only oncedid they meet anyone, and then they managed to slip into a field,and so avoid recognition. Before reaching the town the hunterbranched away into a rugged and narrow footpath which led to themountains. Two dark jagged peaks loomed above them throughthe darkness, and the defile which led between them was the EagleCa?on in which the horses were awaiting them. With unerringinstinct Jefferson Hope picked his way among the great bouldersand along the bed of a dried-up water-course, until he came to theretired corner screened with rocks, where the faithful animals hadbeen picketed. The girl was placed upon the mule, and old Ferrierupon one of the horses, with his money-bag, while Jefferson Hopeled the other along the precipitous and dangerous path.
