"And I was knocked silly?" observed Van "I see how it was. I've been like a man in a long sleep. How did I come out of it, though?"
"Just as you went into it--with a shock. I took you for a trip on a locomotive. Just as we got near here you made a sudden jump, rolled down the embankment, your head burst through that fence board yonder, and I thought you were killed."
Van felt over his head. He winced at a sensitive touch at one spot, but said, with a light laugh:
"I've got a cast-iron skull, I guess! But what made me jump from the locomotive? Did I have daffy fits?"
"Oh, not at all."
"Well, then?"
"Why," said Ralph, "I think the sight of a man in a long linen duster, driving a one-horse gig down this road startled you or attracted your attention, or something of that sort."
"Ginger!" interrupted Van, jumping to his feet, "I remember now! It was--him! And I've got to see him. He went that way. I'm off."
"Hold on! hold on!" called the dismayed Ralph.
But Van heard not, or heeded not. He sprinted for the bend in the road, Ralph hotly at his heels.