"There are so many
little washouts and coulees, down there, you know. That's the trouble
with a glass--it looks only on a level. But we'll find him. Don't you
worry about that. He couldn't go far."
"There isn't any real danger, is there?"
"Oh, no," Keith said. "Except--" He bit his lip angrily.
"Except what?" she demanded. "I'm not silly, Mr. Cameron--tell me."
Keith took the glass from his eyes, looked at her, and paid her the
compliment of deciding to tell her, just as if she were a man.
"Nothing, only--he might run across a snake," he said. "Rattlers."
Beatrice drew her breath hard, but she was plucky. Keith thought he had
never seen a pluckier girl, and the West can rightfully boast brave
women.
She touched Rex with the whip. "Come," she commanded. "We must not stand
here. It has been more than three hours "
Keith put away the glass, and shot ahead to guide her.
"We must have missed him, somewhere." The eyes of Beatrice were heavy
with the weariness born of anxiety and suspense. They stood at the very
edge of the steep bluff which rimmed the river. "You don't think he
could have--" Her eyes, shuddering down at the mocking, blue-gray
ripples, finished the thought.
"He couldn't have got this far," said Keith. "His legs would give out,
climbing up and down. We'll go back by a little different way, and
look.
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