“But we could camp out if we had to!” cried Fred.
“Sure we could! And that’s what I’ll do if we have to,” answered his uncle.
Tom had been at Toby White’s before, at the time he had made his investment in the mine, and as he had treated the colored boarding-house keeper rather liberally, White was all smiles when he recognized his visitor.
“I suah am proud to see you, Mistah Rover,” he said, bowing. “Got your fambly with you, eh?”
“I have, Toby. My two sons and my two nephews. I want to know if you’ve got accommodations for us.”
“I ce’tainly has. Come right in and make you’selves at home. Dinner will be ready in half an hour.”
“We may want to stay quite a while, Toby,” went on Tom Rover, as he dismounted, his action being followed by the boys.
“Stay as long as you please, sir. I can give you a room to you’self and I’ve got two other rooms where the young gentlemen can double up. Just come right in, sir.”
“I wonder if he’d have been so friendly if he knew Uncle Tom was after Peter Garrish’s scalp,” whispered Fred to his cousins.