In the space of every square
mile there were a hundred hiding-places which might have served
McGurk. It would have taken a month to comb the country. They had only
a day, and left the result to chance, but chance failed them. When the
shadows commenced to swing across the gullies they turned back and
rode with downward heads, silent.
One hill lay between them and the old ranch house which had been the
headquarters for their gang so many days, when they saw a faint drift
of smoke across the sky--not a thin column of smoke such as rises from
a chimney, but a broad stream of pale mist, as if a dozen chimneys
were spouting wood smoke at once.
They exchanged glances and spurred their horses up the last slope. As
always in a short spurt, the long-legged black of Jacqueline
out-distanced the cream-colored mare, and it was she who first topped
the rise of land. The girl whirled in her saddle with raised arm,
screamed back at Pierre, and rode on at a still more furious pace.
What he saw when he reached a corresponding position was the ranch
house wreathed in smoke, and through all the lower windows was the red
dance of flames.
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