“Confound them!” thought Nick, who was not scratched, except for the slight mark on his forehead. “Why don’t they come out to make sure of their business?” It was clearly a case of murder intended, for, if the unseen villains had been robbers they would have crept forward to go through the supposed dead man. And, of course, it was plain that they knew whom they were firing at. Nobody would have shot at a stranger like that. “This,” muttered Nick, “is what comes of starting on a case with a brass band at the head of the procession.” He meant by this that he believed the attempt to kill him was connected with the death of Judson. “It’s only too easy to see how it happened,” he thought. “Everybody knew I was sent for, and there isn’t a doubt that my arrival was spotted. “Then it was easy to guess that I would go out to look up Hank Low, and, as this is the only way to his place, they were sure of having a shot at me.” Nick listened as he lay there, but could hear no sound of steps on the other side of the road. The rushing of the stream a little beyond would have drowned ordinary noises, so that the would-be murderers could have got away without being noticed. Apparently, that was what they did, for the detective neither heard nor saw them. He could only guess whether they believed that their shots had done their work. While he was waiting the moon rose. As the sky was perfectly clear the land became almost as light as day. Nick at last got up cautiously and went to his horse. The animal had fallen at the side of the road, and so was out of the way of anyone passing. Nick took off the saddle and bridle and hid them in the bushes near. “I’ll pay for the horse,” he thought, “but there’s no sense in giving the saddle to the first thief who comes along.” He went back to the spot from which the shots had been fired, and lit up the place with his pocket lantern. If the scoundrels had accidentally dropped anything that could serve as a clew, the detective would have found it. Nothing was there that could be of any use to him. He saw traces of footprints on the grass and leaves, but they were too faint to be measured. Having satisfied himself on this matter, Nick started on foot to finish his journey. When he came to the stream, he did not cross the bridge, but turned into the trail that Kerr had told him about. The moon made the path perfectly plain at the start, and Nick took it, not only to save the long walk around the base of the hill, but to save time. For some reasons, he would have liked to go straight back to Denver. There was no doubt in his mind that his would-be murderers had gone to the city. If he was there, he might run across them. But he believed it to be his first business to have a talk with Hank Low, and so he went on. The trail followed along the bank of the stream for some distance, and then crossed it on a bridge of fallen trees. After that, it was very steep until it reached the summit of the hill.