THE OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAINS
It was the second day after Lawrence had left the valley of La Belle, and so far nothing of interest had occurred. Lawrence and Dan were riding along side by side, when suddenly a stone struck in the road just ahead of them, causing their horses to rear and plunge. The road ran close to the bluff, and no doubt it was from the top of the bluff that the stone was thrown.
A careful scrutiny of the bluff revealed nothing, and they were about to ride on, when Lawrence suddenly exclaimed: "Hold on! there's a paper wrapped around that stone." Springing from his horse, he secured the paper. It proved to be a rude scrawl, telling them they were being pursued by a hundred men, and that another hundred had been sent to head them off.
"What do you think of that?" asked Lawrence, handing the scrawl to Dan.
Dan deciphered it, after some trouble, and then remarked: "A hoax, probably."
"It's no hoax, Dan. We may as well be prepared."
"But where did the two hundred men come from?" asked Dan. "Even if those fellows who were paroled turned back, they had no arms."
"It's a raiding party from the South, in all probability," answered Lawrence, "and we left just in time to miss them."
"Whew! Why couldn't we have stayed a few hours longer?"
"What! And fought the two hundred?"