Back,
boy!"
The wolf dog slunk down the hill until it was out of sight from the farther
side of the slope, and the master imitated these tactics until he was close
to Satan. Once in the saddle he made up his mind quickly. Someone in
Rickett had guessed his intention to double back toward Tucker Creek, and
they had cut him off cleverly enough and in overwhelming force. However, no
one in Rickett could guess that another way out remained for him in the
fords below Caswell City, and even if they knew, their knowledge would do
them no good. They could not wing a message to that place to head him off;
it was not humanly possible. For Dan knew nothing of the telephone lines
which brought Caswell City itself within speaking distance of far away
Rickett. Caswell City, then, was his goal, but to get toward it he must
circle far back toward the Morgan Hills, back almost into the teeth of the
posse in order to skirt around the right wing of these new enemies. Even
then, to double that flank, he must send Satan ahead at full speed. As he
swung around, the eight men of that end party crashed over the hill five
hundred yards away, and their yell at the view of the quarry went echoing
up the shallow valley.
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