Все приключения Шерлока Холмса / All adventures of Sherlock Holmes

“You see,” the young hunter answered. “I have a respect for you. And it’s Lucy that brings me here.”

“What shall we do?”

“Tomorrow is your last day, we must act tonight. I have a mule and two horses, they are waiting in the Eagle Ravine[58 - Eagle Ravine – Орлиное ущелье]. How much money have you?”

“Two thousand dollars in gold, and five in notes.”

“That will do. I have some money, too. We must go to Carson City through the mountains. Wake Lucy. It is well that the servants do not sleep in the house.

While Ferrier was absent, Jefferson Hope packed all the food that he could find into a small parcel, and filled a jar with water. Soon the farmer returned with his daughter. She was dressed and ready for a start. The greeting between the lovers was warm, but brief, for minutes were precious.

“We must start at once,” said Jefferson Hope. He was speaking in a low but resolute voice. “They watch front and back entrances, but with caution we may get away through the side window and across the fields.

“And if they stop us?” asked Ferrier.

Hope showed his revolver.

“If they are too many for us, we shall take two or three of them with us,” he said with a sinister smile.

The old farmer turned off the lights inside the house. Ferrier peered over his fields, which he was going to abandon for ever. But the honour and happiness of his daughter outweighed any regret at his ruined fortunes.

All looked peaceful and happy, but the white face and the expression of the young hunter showed that the danger was near.

Ferrier carried the bag of gold and notes, Jefferson Hope had the scanty provisions and water, while Lucy had a small bundle. They opened the window very slowly and carefully. They waited a little, and then one by one passed through into the little garden. They stumbled across it, and gained the shelter of the hedge. Then they came to the gap which opened into the cornfields.

Jefferson Hope’s prairie training gave him the ears of a lynx. He and his friends crouched down and heard the melancholy hooting of a mountain owl within a few yards of them. Another hoot immediately answered it. At the same moment a vague shadowy figure emerged from the gap.