McAlister hurried to help Marsh and Sourdough move the wagon. He thought they had an hour, maybe a little more, before the band of outlaws would reach their location. The trail narrowed and began its descent at Mare's Leap, and it would be a slow and dangerous task to get the cumbersome wagon past the steep drop-off. Frenchie, Molly, and Tracinda went ahead of them with the horses, easily skirting the precipice. The three women reached a spot where the trail widened again, left their horses and went back to see if they could help steady the wagon through the narrow passage.Molly took the reins of the wagon horses while Frenchie and Tracinda moved to the far side of the wagon next to Sourdough who was pushing against the sideboard. Marsh and McAlister went to the rear, and balancing the creaking hull of the wobbly rig, they inched the wagon along the trail, gritting their teeth each time the wheels encountered a stone embedded in the pathway.
All six breathed a sigh of relief as they reached the area where the saddle horses were tied, but at least twenty minutes of their precious hour had been used up, and they still had the task of finding a place to hide the wagon and their horses. Marsh said he remembered something, and took one of the horses for a trek back up the trail as the others headed down the slope in the other direction.
Marsh remembered that he had seen the marks on his way to Brisbee. That meant that the rock they were on had to be facing west, and that the drawing could only be seen by someone facing east! He slowed his horse and began to scan the boulders along the trail. He was a few feet from Mare's Leap when the horse became skittish. Marsh tried to calm the animal, but the horse grew more nervous, and Sour-Mash decided to tether the restless creature and continue on foot. As he was dismounting Marsh peered over the top of his saddle and saw what he had been looking for. The marks were slightly above eye level, and the jut of the rock faced in a downward slant. There was a depiction of the goat-headed stone, a jagged line, and a very crude drawing of a horse.
Marsh could hear his friends coming up the trail. He climbed a small mound of earth to get a better look at the etchings, and when the others reached his location he directed them to the pictures. The treasure-hunting bunch were very excited to see the strange images, but another fifteen minutes had passed, and they knew that Blackjack and his men were coming closer.
The group fanned out, looking for any nook or cranny they could find. Tracinda had climbed up behind the stone with the pictographs, and was making her way up a knoll when she spotted an opening about three feet wide in the wall of granite that towered above the trail. She scurried down the hill and went to get her companions.
Runaway Lovelace and Stampede Norman rounded the last bend on the trail before the rock ledge which was a landmark they had used many times. They had been following a very distinctive track in the dusty trail. Kid Hawpe and Blackjack were not far behind the two trackers, and The Kid spurred his mount to pull in front. As they passed underneath the overhang he noticed a small handful of pebbles falling from the ledge above him. He kept his horse moving until he was around the next crook in the trail and out of sight.
Stampede and Runaway had seen the falling rock particles also, and they signaled to Blackjack to slow down a bit as Norman hurried his pace to catch up with Kid Hawpe. The Kid had stopped his horse near Mare's Leap and was looking to his left, up the hill at a small streamer of red ribbon hung on a twig. Stampede stopped his pony, got down, and started climbing toward the object being pointed to by Kid Hawpe.
Without warning, McAlister sprang from a niche in the rocks and knocked Norman off balance causing him to fall backwards, down the hill, and into The Kid. A startled Kid Hawpe was pushed sideways in his saddle, and as he tried to straighten himself his horse reared, backing up to the edge of the cliff. Kid Hawpe grabbed the frightened horse's mane as its right rear hoof slid on the loose dirt. A frantic Hawpe leaned forward trying to keep the animal on the trail, but the horse reared again and The Kid tumbled from the saddle and over the edge of Mare's Leap, falling head over heels down the steep, craggy bank.
