Page:The trail of the golden horn.djvu/68

64 At these words the girl sprang to her feet, her eyes dilated with fear. She was trembling violently, and unconsciously she stooped and caught the nurse’s hands in hers.

“Don’t, don’t tell him!” she begged. “Bill will know who told, and he will kill me. I’m not afraid to die, but I want to live a while longer to help Tim. I must go for the missionary. I shall go just as soon as Bill leaves Big Chance.”

“Where is Bill going?” Marion asked.

“I don’t know for sure, but I think he is planning to go outside. Just after the Police left, he began to get ready for a trip. He was packing up when I came here. He has been almost frightened out of his wits ever since the Police came.”

“How do you know all this, Zell?”

“Oh, I have ways of finding out. I have kept my eyes on Bill ever since he shot Tim. He didn’t know I was watching him.

“So you think he is going to leave this country?”

“I am sure of it.”

“How will he go?”

“By way of The Gap and across the mountains.”

“But the Police have gone in that direction,” Marion reminded. “Why should he go where they are?”

“Bill has a reason,” was the low reply.

“What reason?”

“Can’t you guess? A bad man will stop at nothing.”

“But the Police can stop him.”

“Can they? You don’t know Bill, I guess. He’s a devil.”

“But he is afraid of the Police, so you say.”

“That is so. He is so afraid that he hates them. The missionary used to tell us what the Bible said