ke the trail and it's pretty well
beaten. It will take you straight in to Leslie's."

Gertrude thanked him and drove on. It was getting dark, and a bitter wind
swept the waste, but at first she was scarcely conscious of the cold, for
her thoughts were busy. She felt that she had done wrong in allowing the
man to make the suggestion. Somehow it seemed to involve her in a plot
against Prescott; but of late she had tried to convince herself of his
guilt. After all, it was her duty to have the fullest investigation made
and the fellow had spoken in a significant manner. One could imagine that
he knew more than he had said.

Darkness closed in on the empty plain, the wind stung her face, the
loneliness grew intense, and she began to shiver in a mood of black
depression. The mystery of her brother's disappearance filled her with
keen anxiety; now she could no longer believe Prescott's assurance that
he was not dead. A little while ago she had trusted him and her cold
nature had suddenly expanded in the warmth of love, but the transforming
glow had suddenly died out, leaving her crushed, humiliated, and very
bitter. Even if her fears about Cyril proved unfounded, she had nothing
to look forward to except a life that had grown meaningless and dreary;
the brief passion she had yielded to would never be stirred again. She
was growing hard and cruel; her keenest desire was to punish the man who
had, as she thought of it, deceived her.

At length a light began to blink in the gloom ahead and soon afterward
she got down at the homestead, feeling very cramped and cold; but an hour
or two passed before she had an opportunity for speaking to her father
alone. It was easy to lead him on to talk of Cyril's disappearance, and
by and by she asked if the neighborhood of Prescott's homestead had been
searched. He caught at the idea.

"It's hard to understand why I didn't think of that!" he cried. "I have
lost all confidence in Curtis. What he is doing, or if he means to let
the matter drop, I don't know; but if Prescott has hidden anything that
might tell against him, it will of course be in the bluff! I'll go over
and examine every hollow among the bushes, without the police."

His expression grew eager and Gertrude, knowing that she had said enough,
left him quietly.

CHAPTER XXII

JERNYNGHAM MAKES A DISCOVERY

A piercing wind swept the lonely waste when Jernyngham left the homestead
in the afternoon. He went on foot, beca