noon
`` If the boys can head him off from the railroad I 'll find him sure , '' he said . `` Oh , yes , I think I know him . When we get him I 'm figuring we 'll find the marks of Harry 's knife on him . '' Okanagan found the trail again lower down the valley , and he and another tireless man headed for the river through a country no horse could traverse all that day , leaving Seaforth behind them worn-out at noon . He sat down to wait for Horton considerably disturbed in mind , and his anxieties would not have been diminished had he known that Alton was starting for Somasco by the Atlantic express that afternoon . It was next day when Alton reached the settlement and found the few women there in a state of excitement , while when he had heard their story he borrowed the best horse he could find and rode out at a gallop towards the ranges . He had also spent several days in the bush without finding any trace of the party when he camped one evening on the edge of one of the many deep ravines the torrents wear out of the hillsides .