As the night wore away without bringing any further evidence of the presence of enemies, the solicitude1 of Vose Adams was transferred to the two, who, hardly a mile distant, were awaiting with equal anxiety the coming of morning. They and he had agreed upon the plan to be pursued, but now, with the crisis at hand, the guide became apprehensive2 about the final issue.
Suppose the couple should leave their hiding place to return to the main trail before their pursuers were out of the way? Mutual3 discovery was certain with the dreadful catastrophe4 that none dreaded5 more than he. But it would seem that Lieutenant6 Russell was too cautious to run the risk of so fatal a mistake. He would reconnoitre the ground and keep out of sight until the coast was clear, but the restless Adams was astir at the first streakings of light in the cañon.
He first visited the animals. It was possible that the stealthy prowler of the night before had done them injury, but, so far as he could ascertain7, nothing of the kind had occurred. Except for what he had seen and heard during the darkness, he would not have known that a visitor had been in camp.
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It was not fully8 light when the others rose from their primitive9 couches. Water was at hand, and after drinking and ablution, the group sat down to their morning meal, which disposed of the last remnant furnished by Vose Adams. While they were eating, he told of the occurrences of the night and was surprised that his companions made light of them. To them it was of less importance than to him.
“So long as they do no more than prowl about the camp,” remarked Captain Dawson, “we need feel no concern.”
“It seems to me,” said Brush, “that if the fellow intended mischief10, he would have done it, but he has left no traces of anything of the kind.”
“Which was because the right kind of chance didn’t show itself,” said Vose; “if we don’t have a lively fight before this bus’ness is over, I’m much mistook, but it’s time we was moving.”
The guide seemed to have forgotten his resentment11 of the night before and his friends were too considerate to refer to it. It took but a short time to make the animals ready, when the procession started up the gorge12, Vose, as usual, leading, with the captain next, then Wade13 Ruggles, while the parson brought up the rear, that position naturally falling to him.
Men and beasts were refreshed by their rest and food, and it required but a brief while to reach the top 295 of the gorge, where, as will be remembered, it terminated. It was here that Vose Adams began his fine work, and he showed no more hesitancy in drawing a “long bow,” than on the previous night, when pretending to account for his long absence.
“The trail leads to the right,” he said, with a glance at the ground, as if to refresh his memory.
His first thrill of misgiving14 came when he saw the parson pause and look searchingly at the ground. Had he possessed15 one-half the skill of Vose in trailing, he would have discovered that the guide was misleading them, but he did not have that cleverness nor did any other member of the party. The glance of the parson was perfunctory and his brief pause was to regain16 his breath after the short but laborious17 climb of the steep slope. Vose was watching him closely and quickly saw the meaning of his action, for, whatever Brush may have observed on the ground in front of him, it was not the faint impressions left on the stones by the fugitives19. Neither the captain nor Ruggles so much as looked at the earth, accepting the dictum of their guide without question.
It was not deemed best to mount the animals, because of the roughness of the ground and the belief that they were close upon the parties for whom they were searching. Vose took care to turn so sharply to the right that they were speedily out of sight of the 296 spot where he had parted from the fugitives. Everything was going promisingly20 when Wade Ruggles startled his companions by the exclamation21:
“Helloa! there’s that dog Timon!”
A hundred yards to the left rose a pile of rocks, the highest of which reached an altitude of two hundred feet or more. Upon the crest22 of one of the lower rocks, which had only a slight height, the immense dog stood in plain sight. It looked as if he had started to ascend23 the rocks, when he discovered the party and paused to learn their business.
The picture was a striking one. The enormous size of the brute24 gave the impression at first that he was a wolf or some wild animal that had challenged the advance of the four men. This error would have been made had not each been so familiar with the creature. As he stood, his formidable head raised, his forequarters being slightly higher than the remainder of his body, his position was diagonal. He was surveying his acquaintances, who surveyed him in turn with equal curiosity.
Vose Adams’s heart sank. What was the meaning of this? As he viewed it, the presence of the dog could have no other significance than that the lieutenant and Nellie Dawson were close at hand. Timon was in their company and would not have strayed far, so that he had betrayed them. From some cause, which the guide 297 could not comprehend, Lieutenant Russell had made a change of plan and placed himself almost in the path along which Vose was leading the pursuers, in the belief that the fugitives were at a safe distance.
The four men looked at the dog for several moments in silence, when the captain spoke25:
“We must be very near them.”
“You’re dead right,” added Ruggles in the same undertone; “we’ve got ’em cornered sooner than we expected.”
“They can’t go far,” said the parson, “without being stopped by the rocks, when we shall have them in the nicest trap that was ever set for any game.”
The reflection of Vose Adams was of a different nature.
“If they make fools of themselves and upset all my plans, what can I do to help ’em? Why didn’t they stay where they promised to stay, and why didn’t they kill that blamed dog afore he played this trick on ’em?”
Timon stood for two or three minutes so immovable that he suggested a stone image of himself, carved out of the rock on which he was perched. Then he emitted a single husky bark and leaped lightly down from where he had been standing26. It was no more than a dozen feet, and he alighted as gracefully27 as a panther. He trotted28 part way to the horsemen, who were closely watching his movements, stopped, barked again 298 and wheeling, trotted forward over precisely30 the course Vose Adams was taking when checked by the appearance of the canine31.
The men looked at one another in astonishment32. The action of the dog was unaccountable, but Captain Dawson’s explanation sounded reasonable.
“That shows we are on the right track and he has come to guide us to where they are awaiting him.”
There could be no doubt of it. The actions of the brute said as plainly as so many words: “Come with me and I will take you straight to the people you want to see.”
Instead of following Timon at once, the party kept watch of him. He trotted a dozen steps and then paused and looked back. Observing that he was not understood, he emitted several more barks, took a couple of steps and then repeated the performance. His object was so evident that Captain Dawson said:
“That’s as plain as the nose on your face; the animal is worth a dozen guides like you, Vose.”
“Then why don’t you foller him?” sulkily asked the latter.
“That’s what we shall do; come on.”
Observing that the captain left his horse standing, the parson inquired the reason.
“They are of no use to us and will be only a bother; leave them here until we need them; I will follow the 299 dog and you can take what order you choose, but,” he added with unmistakable earnestness, “every one of you must keep in the background till I’m through.”
Timon held his motionless position until the four men had taken several steps toward him and there could be no error as to their intention. Vose Adams observed that he was following, without a hair’s variation, the course he had in mind.
“It serves ’em right,” was his angry reflection; “when the leftenant spoke ’bout hunting up a new trail through the mountains, I oughter knowed he hain’t no sense and was sure to make a mess of things. Now’s he gone and sneaked33 off where these folks will stub their toes agin him; I’m ’sprised that the Queen didn’t hammer a little sense into his head.”
The guide was in a torture of apprehension34. The impending35 outcome was likely to betray the deception36 he had used, but it was not for that he cared. There could be no mistaking the deadly mood of Captain Dawson and the equally intense hatred37 of Ruggles and Brush. A meeting with Lieutenant Russell made a frightful38 tragedy inevitable39, and no one could be more vividly40 aware of the fact than the young officer himself, for Vose had impressed it upon him, but the guide in his anguish41 of spirit, saw no possible escape from it. He stolidly42 followed, striving to brace43 himself for what must soon come.
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Meanwhile, the strange leadership continued. Timon seemed to be impatient, for occasionally he broke into a trot29, abruptly44 pausing and looking back, as if to urge his followers45 to use more haste. Since they did not do so, he checked himself, when about to pass beyond sight and waited for them to draw near. He led them around boulders46 and masses of rocks, over ridges47, down declivities, across one small stream, through a ravine and again among the precipitous piles of stone, until even the hardy............