"Molly," said he, stirred by a sudden thought, "why not ride after the pack-horse?"
"And leave you here?" was the astonished question.
"Only for a few minutes; you will gain a good start, and it won't take me long to come up with you. I can put my pony on a run, and we shall gain invaluable time."
But this was asking more than the obedient wife was willing to grant. No possible circumstances could justify her in deserting her husband. If he fell, she had no wish to escape.
Dot, who had held her peace so long, now spoke:
"Papa, don't ask us to leave you, 'cause we don't want to. I asked mamma to let me go to you, but she says no."
Tears filled the eyes of the father, and his voice trembled as he said:
"Very well, little one; stay with your mamma, and when the time comes for us to start we will go together."
"But why don't you go now?" persisted the child, taking her cue, perhaps, from the words her mother had spoken.
"I will not keep you waiting long," he assured her, more affected by the question of the child than by the arguments of her mother.