“We might as well go back,” suggested Ted. “We’ve seen a lot of mountain country but we haven’t learned anything.”
“All right. By the way, there is the cabin of that unsociable gentleman down there.”
Buck pointed to the cabin with the barbed wire fence and as they glanced down at it the front door of the cabin was opened and the tall man who resided there came out. To their astonishment he took a board which was lying beside the door, and placing it across the door, drove several nails into it. For the first time they noticed that the boards were on the windows and that the cabin was being closed up.
“Hello, he is leaving us!” muttered Ted.
“Seems so. He has on a long coat and a cap. Guess he doesn’t intend to come back this season.”
The man went to the small shed in the rear of the yard and opened the doors, leading out a black horse. He then pulled from the other side of the shed a small two-seater carriage and proceeded to harness the horse to it. When this was done he nailed a board across the door of the shed and then carelessly threw the hammer over the fence into the woods.
“Pretty free with his hardware!” said Buck.
The man climbed into the seat of the carriage, spoke sharply to the horse and then rolled out of the yard as the horse started off. He turned the horse’s head toward the cities and they gathered speed as they went. Ted grasped Buck’s arm.
“Take particular notice of that horse!” he cried. “It’s a black one!”