Philip spent more than an hour in conversation with his employer, minutely describing all the events of the night, in which he had borne a part, and at last he arose to go. As he was about to leave the room, a most unexpected and alarming incident occurred. No sooner had he crossed the threshold, than he received a blow full in the face that would have felled an ox. It lifted him off his feet, sent him with crushing force against the wall, and doubled him up on the floor, all in a heap.
“Set Greasers on the trail of a white boy, will ye?” exclaimed a voice. “Take that thar fur yer imperdence! Evenin’, Mr. Ackerman!”
The voice, and the clenched hand that struck the blow, belonged to Jake, the herdsman, who thrust his head in at the door and nodded to his employer, as if to say:
“Let’s hold up a little, boys. We mustn’t tire our horses out at the start, you know. We are safe now, for even if those ranchemen should come in pursuit of us, they’d never think of looking for us here.”
The fugitives were five miles from the rancho, and they had not consumed a great deal of time in accomplishing the distance, either. They had scarcely exchanged a dozen words since they began their flight, for George led the way at a pace so rapid that conversation was impossible. Ned and Gus had never travelled so fast on horseback before, and the former was obliged to confess to himself that he was by no means so fine a rider as he thought he was. It was comparatively easy to keep a firm and upright seat while his nag was ambling leisurely along a smooth trail, but it was not so easy when the horse was running at the top of his speed, over rough ground. His feet were out of the stirrups more than half the time, while Gus was jolted up and down and from side to side with such violence that it was a wonder he kept in his saddle at all. Fortunately, Ned’s departure from home had been so hurried that he had forgotten to take with him the ornaments he usually wore when he went riding. If he had had his spurs on while his heels were digging into his horse’s sides, he might not have kept his seat as well as he did. Both he and Gus were glad when George checked his horse and allowed him to settle down to a walk.