“Well, I don’t believe I’ll get lost going back, anyhow,” thought the boy. “That’s one comfort.”
Dan rode on for several miles. He passed through the town of Marsden, and knew he was within about an hour’s ride of home. It was still very dark, and the sky was overcast with clouds.
“I guess I’ll get a chance to sleep before I have to do the chores,” the lad reasoned. “Maybe I’ll stay out in the barn after I put Bess up. I can snuggle down in the hay, and I’ll not disturb Mr. Savage. I’d never get any sleep if I told him his sister wouldn’t take the medicine.”
Deciding on this plan Dan called to Bess to quicken her pace. As he went around a turn in the road, the soft dust deadening the hoof-beats of the mare, the boy saw a mass of dark shadows just ahead of him.
“Looks like a wagon,” he decided. “Probably some farmer around here making an early start for market.”
Bess settled into a slow walk, for the mare was tired, and Dan did not urge her. Just then the moon, which had risen late, shone dimly through a rift in the clouds. Dan was in the shadow cast by some willow trees, and he could see quite plainly now, that there were several men and a wagon, just ahead of him.
The wagon stood in the middle of the road, which at that point, was lined with woods on either side.
“THEY’RE HIDING STUFF,” DAN REASONED.—Page [73].
“Maybe they’ve had a break-down,” said Dan to himself. “Perhaps I might be able to help them.”