Page:The Cross Pull.pdf/183



hen Flash returned to the cabin he did not go in and sprawl before the fire as was his usual custom; instead he remained outside, watchful and alert. He tilted his ears to catch all sounds and his nose quivered eagerly as he sampled each slightest shift of wind under the trees. Twice he trotted down to the game trail and followed it a few hundred yards downstream. He wanted to know the meaning of that shot; to be sure of the exact location of the man that had fired it. He was well aware that as long as daylight lasted he was handicapped. He could, of course, view men at long range; sometimes in favorable cover he could approach unseen but such observations were highly unsatisfactory. Besides there was always an element of danger in this daylight scouting, the odds heavily against him, and he was far too smart to take such chances often.

“Flash knows that some man is within a few miles of us,” said Moran. “That shot has wor-