Mason started to agree, but the girls put up such a protest against it that he abandoned the idea. On second thought he reasoned it would be doing the girls an injustice if the strangers should turn out to be enemies and a fight might be the result.
They were too far away to make out their features and he noticed with a feeling of relief that they had spurred their horses and were setting rapidly off in a different direction.
“Did you recognize any of those men, Mr. Gaylor?” Josephine questioned.
“No,” he answered guardedly with a sidelong glance at Mason. “The distance was too great to make out their features.”
Afterwards on their way back to the ranch, Bruce seizing a favorable opportunity, confided to Mason in an undertone that he was sure he had recognized one of the men as Spot Wells.
“Well, don’t let the girls know, as it would worry them to death,” he cautioned Bruce after he had recovered from his surprise. “I am more than glad that we didn’t start after them as there would have been a hot fight on our hands. I know the girls have been enjoying this outing immensely, thanks to you, old man, and I don’t want anything to happen to mar their happiness. What makes you think one of them was Spot Wells? I couldn’t have told my own father at that distance.”
“I didn’t recognize him until they turned their horses and started to ride off,” Bruce answered. “I can tell Spot Wells by the way he rides; he used to be a jockey and has never gotten over the habit of riding well forward on a horse’s neck. Just as they started off I noticed him take that position.”
“Now that you mention the fact, I noticed one of them rode in a different style when they started that spurt,” Mason admitted.
The girls were riding up closer to them, putting a stop to their conversation, and commenced to banter them for neglecting their charges.
It was well towards evening when they arrived at the ranch and after supper Mason got his car out and looked at the sky. There was not a star in sight. Bruce wanted them to remain over and start early the next morning, but Josephine would not hear to it. Mason seated the girls and switched the powerful lights on.
“I’m sorry we haven’t the nice moonlight night you wished for, Josephine,” he said.