“How far is it?”
“Fo’ miles, suh. Leastways dat’s what dey calls it around heah.”
Murphy wanted to ask what station it was but he did not want to acknowledge that he was as completely lost as all that. So they took the little used track in the sand which the darky had dignified by the name of a road and walked on as though they were perfectly satisfied and knew just where they were going. There was one thing they did know. They knew that they had furnished the darkies with a subject of conversation which would keep them busy for some time to come.
Like most estimates of distance in the country the “fo’ miles” proved to be rather a rough guess and it was pretty well along in the afternoon when they came in sight of the three or four houses which composed the railroad town. The few people who were in sight eyed them curiously when they walked into the station. They were too far from the forest for any one to recognize their service uniforms and every one took them for soldiers.
There was no train till ten o’clock that night. It seemed as though they had eaten enough of Roberts’ supplies out there in the swamp to last them for a week, but they were hungry again already and walked over to the store to get some crackers and cheese for supper. The storekeeper asked them so many questions that they had a hard time eating their lunch after they had bought it, but it at least gave Scott a chance to ask a few questions in return.
“Isn’t there a Mr. Roberts living somewhere around here?” he asked casually.
“He don’t exactly live around heah, suh, but he does his buyin’ heah. He operates a sawmill down to the south of heah. Fine gentleman, suh.”
Scott reserved his opinion about the qualities of the gentleman in question, but Murphy could not suppress a very audible snort of contempt. They picked up what little information they could about the sawmill, which was not much, and strolled outside to wait for the train. They felt fairly safe here, but they would feel safer outside where it was dark.
CHAPTER XX
Scott and Murphy walked out to a little grove of pines a short distance from the station and sat down in the shadow to wait for the train. They did not talk much, for each one was too busy thinking over the scrapes they had been through. They felt that they were through with their troubles at last and that it was only a matter of a few hours now till they would be back at headquarters, on familiar ground and safe from interference, but they had felt that same way so often before that they were almost afraid to say anything about it now.