Page:Raymond Spears--Diamond Tolls.djvu/222

 Bend. There, he believed, he would find the shantyboat carrying Murdong and the diamonds. Young Mahna had overheard, with river ears, and for a price he had yielded up the precious information.

All day long he drove, eating a cold snack at noon rather than stop the motor for a minute. Thus he travelled until late on the second day he spied a cabin-boat away down a crossing which instantly struck him as familiar. At first he could not place it, but when he was passing it, two or three hundred yards distant, he cursed himself for a fool.

"It's Delia's boat," he whispered. "I'd know hit into a thousand. The fool'll see me. He'll know me."

Gost kept right on down stream until he was miles ahead, and out of sight. Then he ducked into an eddy, swung up behind the tops of several trees that had recently caved in, and waited there. He had gained about two hours on the shantyboat, and he watched till an hour after dark—three hours in all.

The cabin-boat did not pass by, and toward mid-night a wind sprung up out of the north which promised to hold a long time. He heard with pleasure the roar in the trees overhead. It meant the cabin-boat could not float down. He had a good hope—that the girl and his late partner would miss the shantyboat, which was not conspicuous, and pass it by.