ELUDED.
"Who are our pursuers?" asked Bart, angrily. "What do they want? They
are shouting and waving their hands."
"They are shouting for us to stop. They want me."
"For what?"
"Have you forgotten, as soon as this, what I told you about the queer
money I tried to get changed at the bank?"
"Think that is why they are after you, eh?"
"Without a doubt?"
"Then they must be officers."
"It is certain that at least one of them is an officer. The others he
may have called to his aid hastily."
"It will not do for them to overtake us."
"Surely not. I would be arrested and taken back into Carson. Even if I
were sure of proving my innocence, the man and girl would get away."
"And you cannot be sure you could prove your innocence. The working of
the law is sometimes strange and erratic. That money has placed you in
great danger, Frank."
"You are right. I wish I had kept my money in my pocket, and had not
been so ready to break fifty-dollar bills for a pretty girl."
Frank said this laughingly, but Bart's dark face wore a very serious
look. He was not at all inclined to regard serious matters in a humorous
light, while Frank had faced deadly dangers many times, and had come to
laugh in the face of the gravest peril.
"We'll have trouble in escaping those men," came soberly from Bart's
lips. "It is still rather wild up around Tahoe, I fancy, and this road
must end at the lake."
"Well, we'll leave the road and ride over the mountain tops, if we do
not overtake the man and girl."
"What if we do overtake them?"
"It will be a good plan to freeze onto them, and hold them for the
officers."
"No," cried Bart, sharply. "I will not agree to that."
"You will not?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"It would place the girl in peril. She would be----"
"That's where you're off, my boy. It might rescue her from peril. If she
is in trouble, as we imagine, it would be the very best thing that could
happen for her."
"How is that?"
"She could tell her story truthfully, and it might get her out of
trouble by putting the man with the black mustache in a box. At the same
time it would clear me."
Bart was obliged to confess that Frank had made a point, and still he
did not like to think of turning the girl over to the officers of the
law.
"Perhaps she would not 'peach' on the gang, if there is a gang behind
her, which I doubt. She might keep her mouth closed, might swear she
never let you have the queer money."
"And I can prove she did by the conductor of the Pacific Express. He saw
me give her the small stuff for the two bills."
"Still, I do not feel like nabbing her and turning her over to the
officers. We might not be able to nab her, anyway."
"That is true enough. I rather fancy her companion would be likely to
put up a stiff fight. He looks to me like a dangerous man."
Frank fancied that he was beginning to understand Bart's feelings. He
believed the boy was afraid the girl might prove to be one of a gang of
counterfeiters, and he was so badly smitten that he did not wish to be
instrumental in her arrest.
Frank, himself, had been highly interested in Isa Isban; but events had
transpired which caused him to doubt that she was all her innocent face
would lead a casual observer to believe, and his admiration for her had
waned swiftly.
Having been brought beneath a cloud of suspicion, Frank was determined
to vindicate himself in some manner. He sincerely hoped it might turn
out that the girl was innocent. If she were innocent, then she must be
in trouble, and he hoped to be instrumental in relieving her.
It was well the lads had obtained two good horses, for they were able to
keep well in advance of the pursuers.
Once or twice they fancied they saw rising dust in the far distance,
which led them to believe the man and girl were there.
If they were right, then the couple in advance were urging their horses
to the limit, for they kept beyond view.
The road grew rougher and rougher. The mountains shut in on either hand,
and still they climbed upward. The horses panted and perspired, while
horses and lads were covered with dust.
"Do you know how far it is to the lake by this road?" asked Bart.
"It can't be over ten miles."
"Well, it is the longest ten miles of road I ever passed."
The windings of the road shut the pursuers out from view. They were
coming on when last seen, but had not seemed to gain in the least. At
last an exclamation of satisfaction broke from Bart's lips.
"There they are!"
Far up the road, halted and looking back, were the man and girl, mounted
on two dust-covered horses.
"Sure as you live!" cried Frank. "We have been gaining on them."
The boys were seen by the ones in advance, and the man made a gesture of
rage, while the girl reached out and caught him by the arm, seeming to
speak earnestly to him. He listened a moment, and then both touched up
their horses, quickly galloping from view.
Now the chase became hot, although the road became more difficult and
perilous. Several times the lads obtained glimpses of the man and girl.
Finally, with appalling suddenness, they came out upon the shore of Lake
Tahoe, resting like a blue gem upon the mountain tops, upheld like a
perfect mirror to a cloudless sky.
Cries of surprise and admiration broke from the lips of both boys, for
never before had they beheld such a lovely sheet of water. The surface
of the lake was unbroken by a ripple, and the water, into which the
heated horses thrust their noses, was clear as crystal.
Afar, the mountain peaks rose like sentinels, their outlines softened to
a purple shade. Along the shores were unmarred forests.
For a few seconds the boys sat silent, gazing in speechless admiration
on the beautiful scene, and then Frank gave a start and drew the nose of
his horse from the water, saying:
"Don't let your animal drink too much, Bart. They are very hot."
"That's right," nodded the dark-haired lad, following Frank's example.
"But where are the man and girl?"
"They must have hidden up or down the shore of the lake. Look for the
tracks of their horses."
It did not take them long to discover which direction had been taken,
and away they went.
"I don't see how they are going to escape us," said Bart. "We have them
cornered."
"And we must be ready to fight, for that man will raise a rumpus."
They looked at their revolvers, making sure they were in good working
order. There was a look of resolution on Frank's face that contrasted
strongly with the expression of doubt and uncertainty which had been
growing on the face of his companion.
They rode round a point and came in view of a beautiful cove. Then they
again uttered exclamations of surprise, for out of the cove a light
canoe was skimming, and the canoe contained the man and the girl. The
man was handling the paddle with strength and skill.
"Tricked!" exclaimed Frank, somewhat dismayed. "They have slipped us
after all."
As he saw this, the expression of doubt on Bart's face turned to one of
intense anger. He was enraged at being baffled. Riding his horse into
the edge of the water, he drew a revolver, pointed it at the canoe, and
shouted:
"Hold on, there! If you don't come back, you are liable to find yourself
dodging bullets."
The reply of the man was a scornful laugh, the sudden uplifting of one
hand, a puff of smoke, and the singing of a bullet that passed over
Bart's head.
"Don't shoot!" cried Frank. "You might hit the girl."
Bart was in a white rage; he quivered with anger.
"Oh, I won't shoot!" he said; "but, if he were alone I'd give him a few
lead pills, hang him!"
After the shot, which seemed flung at the boys in derision, the man
resumed paddling, and the canoe glided on.
But that shot had aroused some on the opposite side of the cove, for a
man came bursting out of the trees, rushed down to the shore, and stared
after the canoe.
He was a gigantic fellow, being at least six feet and six inches in
height, roughly dressed in woolen clothes, wearing long-legged boots and
a wide-brimmed hat. He had a heavy mustache, and a long imperial.
Suddenly his voice rang in a roar across the cove:
"Hold on, thar! Whatever are you doin' with my canoe? Ef yer don't bring
it back, burn my hide ef I don't turn a cannon on yer an' sink yer at
sea!"
The man in the canoe made no immediate reply, but pulled the harder at
the paddle.
"Derned ef yer don't git grapeshot an' canister!" howled the big man.
"I'll riddle yer!"
Then the man in the canoe shouted:
"Don't shoot! You will find two horses hitched to a tree near where we
obtained this canoe. They're yours in exchange."
"W'at do I want uv hawses!" roared the big man. "Bring back thet canoe
instanter! I won't take yer hawses!"
But the man in the canoe continued to pull at the paddle, and the little
craft glided straight out on the tranquil bosom of the lake.