"You are going with me," was the answer.
"When?"
"Right now."
"Better go home first."
"And have a fight with my folks? No, no! We go now. I have an aunt in Deadwood, you know!"
"It's forty-five miles, and we can't get there till midnight, even if my horse holds out."
"We may overtake him before that," said Belle, though she knew quite well they would not, for Hartigan would ride like a madman.
It had not been difficult to enlist Carson's sympathies. A sincere friendship had sprung up between the boyish preacher and himself and their total dissimilarity had made them congenial. Carson was amused in his quiet way to note how exactly Belle was moving as he thought best and surest, so now he merely added:
"Deadwood it is," and with a farewell word to the Bylows they were off.