"She will believe we rose in the night, and ran away. I hate to have her believe me a coward."
Then he fell to wondering what the men would do with himself and Barney.
"We are harmless travelers. They will not dare to do anything more than run us out of this part of the country."
Although he told himself this, he was far from feeling sure that the men would do nothing else. He had heard of the desperate deeds perpetrated by the widely known "White Caps," and it was not likely that the Black Caps were any less desperate and reckless.
As they were leaving the vicinity of the cabin, one of the horses neighed loudly, causing the leader of the party to utter an exclamation of anger.
"Ef that 'rousts ther gal, she's li'bul ter be arter us in a hurry," one of the men observed.
The party hurried forward, soon passing from view of the cabin, and entering the shadow that lay blackly in the depths of the valley.
They rode about a mile, and then they came to a halt at a command from the leader, and Frank noticed with alarm that they had stopped beneath a large tree, with wide-spreading branches.
"This looks bad for us, old man," he whispered to Barney.
"Thot's pwhat it does, Frankie," admitted the Irish lad. "Oi fale throuble coming this way."