“Then you don’t know what has become of father?”
“Nothing more than I’ve told ye, Dave. They was a-going to march him northward, too.”
“To their village?”
“Yes.”
“Then they were going to burn him at the stake, too!” burst out the youth. “Oh, how terrible!”
“I don’t know thet for sartin, Dave. He may have escaped, jest as I did.”
“But we have heard nothing from him.”
“He may be in the forest somewhere. I don’t believe he knows the trails quite as well as I do.”
Dave shook his head dismally. “You are trying to make the news easy for me, Sam. But I understand it.” The youth had all he could do to keep back the tears.
“Remember the saying, Dave, thet a man’s alive until you are sure he’s dead.”