The grey halted at once,
rearing and snorting, for the sight brought again that hateful smell of
blood but her leader moved quietly after the cowpunchers; he was taking
the man-trail!
It was arduous work, frisking from one point of vantage to another,
never knowing when the Great Enemy might turn. They could make death
speak from the distance of half a mile; under shelter of the hills they
might even double back to close range; they might be luring him by the
pretense that he was unseen.
In such maneuvers the mare was a dangerous encumbrance, for though she
had fallen into the spirit of the thing at once and never uttered even
the faintest whinny yet it would be far easier for the men to hear and
see two than to detect one. Alcatraz strove to drive her back,
sometimes whirling with teeth bared and rushing at her, sometimes
halfrearing as though to strike. But on such occasions she merely
stopped and regarded him with eyes of mild amazement. She knew perfectly
that he would never touched her with tooth or hoof; she also knew that
this was dangerous folly--this badgering of terrible man, but since
Alcatraz was not wise enough to follow her she must even follow him in
spite of his folly.
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