Читать книгу The Copperhead Trail Mystery - Percy Keese Fitzhugh - Страница 6

Table of Contents

At the last moment, Mac decided to go. “Two pairs of arms will carry more than one pair, huh?” he said. “We may be able to get a few things from the agent and kind of start things here before real help comes from the junction.”

A murmur of general assent followed this suggestion. Mr. Perry and Mr. Doyle looked genuinely relieved to get away from the activities around the canyon, and rest. In fact, they immediately fell to talking over a plan for getting a few of the broken seats out of the coach and arranging them in the same manner as the conductor had done for the suffering fireman. Hal and Mac left them still discussing it.

Mac was still chuckling when a sharp curve took them out of sight of the wrecked engine and coach. “Can you imagine those two birds prospecting?” he asked. “Or can’t you?”

“I can’t,” Hal grinned. “What’s more, I don’t think I’d like to go with them. Too much milk and water kind to suit me.”

“Oh well,” said Mac blithely, “it takes all kinds you know. They’ll fit all right in this prospecting business. They’ve got a lot of that quality that’ll help to get them what they started out to get. An egg like Perry will do a whole lot for gold without risking his life.”

“What about yours?” Hal queried glancing at his companion.

“I can take care of myself, Red,” the young man answered quickly. “I’ve been doing it for ten years—since I was fourteen. Nobody to care much so I ran away from home.”

There was a decisive tone in this latter declaration, one that did not invite discussion. Hal would very much have liked learning more about this carefree adventurer but he understood even then that Mac talked only when he wanted to. In point of fact, the young man was already whistling gaily, apparently absorbed in thoughts of a lighter vein.

After a while he stopped whistling and asked Hal what were his plans in Laidlaw. Then he listened intently while that young giant enthusiastically talked of the delightful summer that he was contemplating with Miss Jean Wainwright and her aunt at their camp.

“She told me it’s about eighteen miles from Laidlaw station,” he said. “In her last letter she described it as being situated on a sheltered slope and it looks directly down on a lake a half mile or so below. Sounds nice, huh?”

“Uh huh. Sounds like the same place we’re headed for, Red. She didn’t by any chance mention the name of the lake?”

“Matter of fact, she did, Mac. Called it Copperhead Lake, and said there was something sad looking about it. Gosh, can you imagine that? Girls certainly are funny!”

“I’ll say.” Mac looked wistful for a moment, then: “That’s where we’re going, Red, so it looks as if you’re going to have company.”

“Great!” Hal exclaimed sincerely. “I’ll like it, believe me, because there isn’t going to be enough to do just with a girl and another lady. Now I’ve got something real to look forward to.”

“You don’t know the half of it,” Mac laughed merrily. “Still a fellow your size ought to be able to hold his own.”

“Now you’re talking,” Hal agreed with a deep chuckle. “I take it that you expect some difficulties with this gold rush, huh?”

“What gold rush doesn’t have its difficulties!” Mac said whimsically. “History tells us that the gold miner is constantly beset with trials and tribulations so I guess we’ll have our share.”

Hal grinned. “In other words, it isn’t all gold that glitters, huh?”

“Exactly!” Mac exclaimed heartily. Then, in an undertone, he said: “Don’t turn around, Red—someone is following!”

Hal felt chilled for the moment. “How do you know?” he queried in a breathless whisper.

“Twice I’ve seen the shadow,” Mac said between lips that seemed not to move. “He seems to be dodging behind the trees above this cut.”

Hal’s blue eyes lighted considerably. “That’s funny,” he whispered back, “I thought I saw a face above the cut just before we started. Conductor said it must be a deer, but somehow I knew it wasn’t.”

“Well, this isn’t any deer, Red,” Mac murmured. “It’s a man, for he slows down when we slow down and he hurries when we hurry. I’ve been listening.”

“Why didn’t you say something before? How long have you noticed it?”

“I’ve sort of sensed it since we started, but I just wanted to make sure.” Mac then glanced above the cut slyly; it was no more than that, yet his expression spoke volumes.

They hurried on in silence for a while. Dusk was closing in—the snow-tipped peaks looked leaden-colored in the darkening sky.

Giant trees above the cut seemed to shrink gradually back into the shadows until only their huge outlines became visible, staring down upon the two young travelers like gaunt, unfriendly specters.

Hal, being a temperamental and sensitive young man, shivered slightly. He did not like the idea of being followed by this ghostly shadow of a man—there was something ominous and strange about it that gave him a feeling of foreboding.

“Why don’t you want to turn around and face this bird, Mac?” he asked presently.

“Hunch, I guess,” answered the other with a shrug of his shoulders.

“We’ve no reason to fear him or anybody else for that matter,” Hal reasoned. “We’ve a right to know why he’s following us!”

“Hush, not so loud, Red! If it was only curiosity, he’d come right out and ask us, wouldn’t he? In this country people are usually friendly and don’t sneak when they want to find out things. This way doesn’t look like friendliness, would you say so?”

“No. But why on earth—why?”

As if in answer to Hal’s question, came a sharp report and then the unmistakable whine of a bullet. In a flash, Hal and Mac had thrown themselves up against the high embankment and a moment later, a second bullet had lodged in the gravel at their feet.