But if he thought to rest here in peace, he was destined to be disappointed.
Barely had he stretched out his legs, when he was startled by a sound at his side, and glancing up, he found a huge, black-muzzled fellow towering above him and covering him with a long-barrelled horse pistol.
"Hullo!"
Out came his long knife instanter.
"Move or speak, and I pull the trigger," said the brigand.
"Thank you for nothing," said the stranger.
"Who are you?" demanded the brigand.
"Just what I was about to ask you," returned the stranger, lightly.
"Whence come you?"
"Precisely the question I was going to put."