Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/120

104 sharply. "Don't let any place escape you. The rascal is here somewhere, I know he is, and we must n't let him get away with that let"—Brown stopped abruptly, as his men instantly began to do his bidding.

Not a word was spoken by Hannah or her mother while the search was being made, though the excitement was intense. Hannah's confidence in the success of her present scheme was not so strong as when she had hidden Robert in the ashes, and the confidence and determination of the leader of the cowboys were both more alarming now. She glanced at the brutal face of the man, and her fears for her guest increased. If Robert should be discovered she was fearful of what might befall him, for there was something in the very bearing of the young soldier that convinced her that he could not be taken without a struggle. In such an event there could be but one outcome, and she trembled, even in her excitement, as she pictured to herself what that would be. The anger of Claudius Brown and his comrades already was keen, and if it should be increased by anything which Robert Dorlon was only too likely to do in the event of his discovery, she trembled as she thought of the fate of Washington's