The
manner of their approach, their utter silence, the hour, all
contributed toward the sinister.
Upon the veranda of the ranchhouse Barbara Harding
came to a sudden halt. Her entire manner indicated final
decision, and determination. A moment she stood in thought
and then ran quickly down the steps and in the direction of
the office. Here she found Eddie dozing at his post. She did
not disturb him. A glance through the window satisfied her
that he was alone with the prisoner. From the office building
Barbara passed on to the corral. A few horses stood within
the enclosure, their heads drooping dejectedly. As she entered
they raised their muzzles and sniffed suspiciously, ears a-cock,
and as the girl approached closer to them they moved warily
away, snorting, and passed around her to the opposite side of
the corral. As they moved by her she scrutinized them and her
heart dropped, for Brazos was not among them. He must
have been turned out into the pasture.
She passed over to the bars that closed the opening from
the corral into the pasture and wormed her way between two
of them. A hackamore with a piece of halter rope attached to
it hung across the upper bar. Taking it down she moved off
across the pasture in the direction the saddle horses most often
took when liberated from the corral.
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