It seemed to Dick that the whole earth was
blotted out by the white fall. He and the sergeant resigned themselves
completely to the guidance of Red Blaze, who never veered an inch from
the right path.
"If I didn't know the way my hoss would," he said. "I'd just give him
his head an' he'd take us straight to his warm stable in Townsville,
an' the two bundles of oats that I mean to give him. I reckon it was
pretty smart of me, wasn't it, to order a snowstorm an' have it come
just when it was needed."
Again the cheerful eyes twinkled in the flaming face.
"You're certainly a winner," said Dick, "and you win for us all."
The snow was now so deep in the pass that they could not proceed at
great speed, but they did the best they could, and, as Red Blaze said,
their best, although it might be somewhat slow, was certainly better
than that of Skelly and his men. Dick believed in fact that the raiders
had been compelled to abandon the pursuit.
When they reached a lower level, where the snow was far less dense,
they stopped and listened. The sergeant's ears had been trained to
uncommon keenness by his life on the plains, and he could hear nothing
but the sigh of the falling snow. Nor could Petty, who had fine ears
himself.
They descended still further, and made another stop. It was snowing
here also, but it was merely an ordinary fall, and they could get a
long view back up the pass. They saw nothing there but earth and trees
covered with snow.
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