CHAPTER XL.
ELUDED.
"Who are our pursuers?" asked Bart, angrily. "What do they want? Theyare 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 queermoney 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 hemay 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 Iwere sure of proving my innocence, the man and girl would get away."
"And you cannot be sure you could prove your innocence. The working ofthe law is sometimes strange and erratic. That money has placed you ingreat danger, Frank."
"You are right. I wish I had kept my money in my pocket, and had notbeen so ready to break fifty-dollar bills for a pretty girl."
Frank said this laughingly, but Bart's dark face wore a very seriouslook. He was not at all inclined to regard serious matters in a humorouslight, while Frank had faced deadly dangers many times, and had come tolaugh in the face of the gravest peril.
"We'll have trouble in escaping those men," came soberly from Bart'slips. "It is still rather wild up around Tahoe, I fancy, and this roadmust end at the lake."
"Well, we'll leave the road and ride over the mountain tops, if we donot 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 theofficers."
"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 sheis in trouble, as we imagine, it would be the very best thing that couldhappen for her."
"How is that?"
"She could tell her story truthfully, and it might get her out oftrouble by putting the man with the black mustache in a box. At the sametime it would clear me."
Bart was obliged to confess that Frank had made a point, and still hedid not like to think of turning the girl over to the officers of thelaw.
"Perhaps she would not 'peach' on the gang, if there is a gang behindher, which I doubt. She might keep her mouth closed, might swear shenever let you have the queer money."
"And I can prove she did by the conductor of the Pacific Express. He sawme give her the small stuff for the two bills."
"Still, I do not feel like nabbing her and turning her over to theofficers. We might not be able to nab her, anyway."
"That is true enough. I rather fancy her companion would be likely toput up a stiff fight. He looks to me like a dangerous man."
Frank fancied that he was beginning to understand Bart's feelings. Hebelieved the boy was afraid the girl might prove to be one of a gang ofcounterfeiters, and he was so badly smitten that he did not wish to beinstrumental in her arrest.
Frank, himself, had been highly interested in Isa Isban; but events hadtranspired which caused him to doubt that she was all her innocent facewould lead a casual observer to believe, and his admiration for her hadwaned swiftly.
Having been brought beneath a cloud of suspicion, Frank was determinedto vindicate himself in some manner. He sincerely hoped it might turnout that the girl was innocent. If she were innocent, then she must bein trouble, and he hoped to be instrumental in relieving her.
It was well the lads had obtained two good horses, for they were able tokeep 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 horsesto 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, whilehorses 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 werecoming on when last seen, but had not seemed to gain in the least. Atlast 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, mountedon 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 ofrage, while the girl reached out and caught him by the arm, seeming tospeak earnestly to him. He listened a moment, and then both touched uptheir horses, quickly galloping from view.
Now the chase became hot, although the road became more difficult andperilous. Several times the lads obtained glimpses of the man and girl.
Finally, with appalling suddenness, they came out upon the shore of LakeTahoe, resting like a blue gem upon the mountain tops, upheld like aperfect mirror to a cloudless sky.
Cries of surprise and admiration broke from the lips of both boys, fornever before had they beheld such a lovely sheet of water. The surfaceof the lake was unbroken by a ripple, and the water, into which theheated horses thrust their noses, was clear as crystal.
Afar, the mountain peaks rose like sentinels, their outlines softened toa purple shade. Along the shores were unmarred forests.
For a few seconds the boys sat silent, gazing in speechless admirationon the beautiful scene, and then Frank gave a start and drew the nose ofhis 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 thetracks 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 themcornered."
"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 workingorder. There was a look of resolution on Frank's face that contrastedstrongly with the expression of doubt and uncertainty which had beengrowing on the face of his companion.
They rode round a point and came in view of a beautiful cove. Then theyagain uttered exclamations of surprise, for out of the cove a lightcanoe was skimming, and the canoe contained the man and the girl. Theman was handling the paddle with strength and skill.
"Tricked!" exclaimed Frank, somewhat dismayed. "They have slipped usafter all."
As he saw this, the expression of doubt on Bart's face turned to one ofintense anger. He was enraged at being baffled. Riding his horse intothe edge of the water, he drew a revolver, pointed it at the canoe, andshouted:
"Hold on, there! If you don't come back, you are liable to find yourselfdodging bullets."
The reply of the man was a scornful laugh, the sudden uplifting of onehand, a puff of smoke, and the singing of a bullet that passed overBart'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 fewlead pills, hang him!"
After the shot, which seemed flung at the boys in derision, the manresumed paddling, and the canoe glided on.
But that shot had aroused some on the opposite side of the cove, for aman came bursting out of the trees, rushed down to the shore, and stareda
fter the canoe.
He was a gigantic fellow, being at least six feet and six inches inheight, roughly dressed in woolen clothes, wearing long-legged boots anda 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 bringit back, burn my hide ef I don't turn a cannon on yer an' sink yer atsea!"
The man in the canoe made no immediate reply, but pulled the harder atthe 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 weobtained this canoe. They're yours in exchange."
"W'at do I want uv hawses!" roared the big man. "Bring back thet canoeinstanter! I won't take yer hawses!"
But the man in the canoe continued to pull at the paddle, and the littlecraft glided straight out on the tranquil bosom of the lake.