It was all very simple, and prettily adjusted, but the difficulty was
that Jase had failed to arrive and the act was lagging without its
climax.
He failed because of unforeseen events. Pending the cue for his
entrance he and his fellow heroes were being employed as sentries
guarding the approaches to the place against invasion by outsiders.
Jase himself had for several hours been lying as flat as a lizard under
a matted clump of laurel on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a ford
which could not be rapidly crossed. His function was to see to it that
no one passed there whose coming might prove an embarrassment.
The rawness of the air caused his bones to ache and his muscles to
cramp, but he had been steadfast. He was playing for high stakes.
Finally two horsemen had appeared--and they were two who must not pass.
One of them was Brent and the other was Bud Sellers.
So Jase had opened fire and Bud had returned it--returned it and fled.
That left the sentinel with a result half successful and half
disastrous, and made it necessary for him to make a hurried short-cut
to another point past which Brent must shortly ride.
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