Wanted Dead Read Online Free PDF Page B

looking for the path he wouldn’t have found that either. The trouble was that it had been obvious that if the bushrangers had a
plant
in a cave on the ridge there would be a path to it along which a horse could travel. No bushranger with any common sense at all would put himself in the position of ever having to leave his horse.
    Then again it followed that if there were a path up to the ridge there must be another path down, because, again, no bushranger would have, as part of his escape route, a dead-end into the bush. At least it didn’t seem likely.
    The only point that was thoroughly difficult for Riley to understand was why he was now toiling up thispath, leading his horse because the wretched animal seemed near exhaustion after travelling up hill for half an hour, and with the packhorse trailing behind.
    Of course there was no danger in it, he told himself. If the place happened to be infested with bushrangers it was unlikely that they’d do more than take his money and that was hardly worth worrying about.
    Unless they searched his gear and found the carbine and cavalry sword. That might upset them.
    Anyhow, what did it matter? The odds were that there wasn’t a bushranger within ten miles of the place and finding the
plant
could prove useful. He could use its existence as proof that he’d actually been bushranger hunting when he reported back to Goulburn at the end of the month.
    The path led right to the top of the ridge, then ran along it towards the cliff. Riley found that he could now see the Lightning Fork shanty quite clearly and deduced from that that he and his horses, outlined against the sky, could be seen from the shanty and the road.
    He led his horses quickly over the top of the ridge and took them a hundred yards or so down the other side into the trees, tied them up and walked back to the ridge.
    He walked along below the path over the almost bare rock which would have been difficult for a horse but was quite easy for a man. It was late in the afternoon now and the sun was within an hour or so of setting in the western sky.
    Just before it reached the edge of the cliff the path turned off the top of the ridge and led downwards on the opposite side of the road.
    The trees were very sparse for about half a miledown the slope and Riley could see the whole of the path quite clearly. There was no sign of a cave.
    Now that was an extraordinary thing, he thought. He could have sworn the youth he’d terrorised to the point of collapse that morning had been telling the truth. The existence of the shanty and the ridge and the very path itself had all tended to confirm it. But there was no cave.
    Of course there was no reason why the path should actually run to the cave. If it came to that, in fact it would be remarkable if it did. But if it didn’t, how was he supposed to find it?
    He began walking back beside the path, still keeping below the top of the ridge to avoid being outlined against the sky.
    A ledge of rock jutting out several feet beyond the natural fall of the slope caught his attention and he scrambled down and found the mouth of a cave hidden below it.
    The entrance itself was mostly covered by bushes and was quite small anyway. A man would have to crawl in on his hands and knees.
    Riley stood contemplating the entrance.
    If it were a
plant
it was an excellent and obvious one. The bushrangers could see the road quite clearly from here and would have at least an hour’s warning of any pursuit.
    Moreover, anybody following them closely, but not actually in sight, would assume they’d continued along the path and would never find the cave unless they came specifically looking for it, as Riley had done. Although on second thoughts, what would a fleeing bushranger do with his horse if he were trying to hidein this cave? He certainly couldn’t get the horse in after him.
    Then perhaps it wasn’t a
plant
. Perhaps it was just a cave the youth had happened to