t I did not understand, and
my anxiety for the Colonel suddenly rushed back fourfold. I wheeled
about and ordered a horse in an unnecessarily sharp tone, and the men
jumped to obey me.

It was just sunset as I mounted again and galloped down the lane. For
the second time that day I set out along the lonely mountain road
leading to Luray, but this time with a vague fear gripping at my heart.
Why had Radnor acted so strangely, I asked myself again and again. Could
it be connected with last night's quarrel? And where was the Colonel,
and where was Mose?

CHAPTER X

THE TRAGEDY OF THE CAVE

It was almost dark by the time I reached the village of Luray. I
galloped up to the hotel where we had left our horses that morning and
without dismounting called out to the loafers on the veranda to ask if
anyone had seen Colonel Gaylord. Two or three of them, glad of a
diversion, got up and sauntered out to the stepping-stone where I
waited, to discuss the situation.

What was the matter? they inquired. Hadn't the Colonel gone home with
the rest of the party?

No, he had not, I returned impatiently, and I wanted to know if any of
them had seen him.

They consulted together and finally decided that no one had seen him,
and at this the stable boy vouchsafed the information that Red Pepper
was still in the barn.

"I thought maybe the Colonel was intending to make me a present of that
horse," the landlord observed with a grin, as he joined the group.

A chuckle ran around the circle at this sally. It was evident that the
Colonel did not have a reputation in the county for making presents. I
impatiently gathered up my reins and one of the men remarked:

"I reckon young Gaylord got home in good time. He was in an almighty
hurry when he started. He didn't stop for no farewells."

With numerous interruptions and humorous interpolations, they finally
managed to tell me in their exasperatingly slow drawl that Rad had come
back to the hotel that afternoon before the rest of the party, had drunk
two glasses of brandy, called for his horse, and galloped off without
speaking a word to anyone except to swear at the stable boy. The speaker
finished with the assertion that in his opinion Rad Gaylord and Jeff
Gaylord were cut out of the same block.

I shifted my seat uneasily. This information did not tend to throw any
light on the question of the Colonel's whereabouts, and I was in no
mood just then to listen to any more gossip