The girl felt curiously grateful as she rode out with her companion,
and Dane, who laid Winston carefully in a wagon, drew two of the other
men aside when it rolled away towards the Grange.
"There is something to be looked into. Did you notice anything unusual
about the affair?" he said.
"Since you asked me, I did," said one of the men. "I, however,
scarcely cared to mention it until I had time for reflection, but while
I fancy the regulation guards would have checked the fire on the
boundaries without our help, I don't quite see how one started in the
hollow inside them."
"Exactly," said Dane, very dryly. "Well, we have got to discover it,
and the more quickly we do it the better. I fancy, however, that the
question who started it is what we have to consider."
The men looked at one another, and the third of them nodded.
"I fancy it comes to that--though it is horribly unpleasant to admit
it," he said.
CHAPTER XVII
MAUD BARRINGTON IS MERCILESS
Dane overtook the wagon close by the birch bluff at Silverdale
Grange. It was late then, but there were lights in the windows that
blinked beyond the trees, and, when the wagon stopped, Barrington
stood in the entrance with one or two of his hired men. Accidents
are not infrequent on the prairie, where surgical assistance is not
always available, and there was a shutter ready on the ground beside
him, for the Colonel had seen the field hospital in operation.
"Unhook the tailboard," he said sharply.
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