Ellmer pulled out his watch and went to the door. After a few moments he came back and sat down by the stove.
“Nothing’s doing yet,” he said. “The night’s quiet and the rain’s stopped, but if the boys heard the car, they’d reckon Caverhill was going to the ranch. All the same, the new road’s soft with the wet and Jake can’t hit up the pace until he’s across the divide.”
Bob nodded. The new road was a bank of soil and gravel, loosely thrown up by a horse scoop. If the settlers found out Maxwell had started for the landing and resolved to bring him back, Bob rather thought a few men on horseback, pushing across the old trail, could reach the high ground before the car.
“I don’t see how Maxwell bit these fellows,” Ellmer resumed. “When your transfer’s recorded at the land office, your titl
