Chapter 27
We cooked ourselves a meal, and built ourselves a fire. About midnight we heard the sounds of horses rapidly approaching. Immediately we leaped from our bunks and seized our rifles, peering anxiously into the darkness. A moment later, however, we were reassured by a shrill whistle peculiar to Buck Barry, and a moment later he and Don Gaspar rode into camp. We assailed them with a storm of questions–why had they returned? what had happened? where was Yank? had there been an accident? Don Gaspar, who appeared very weary and depressed, shook his head sadly. Barry looked at us savagely from beneath his brows. “The gold is gone; and that’s an end of it!” he growled. At these words a careful, dead silence fell on us all. The situation had suddenly become too serious for hasty treatment. We f
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