“I wish you wouldn’t be so nasty, Mayne Gordon,” cried Esau. “Who’s a-going to leave his mother? Ain’t I trying to get a lot o’ money so as to make her well off?”
“We cannot stay,” I said. “I don’t want Mr Raydon and my friends—”
“They have arrived then?”
“Yes,” I said. “What would they think if I ran off like this?”
“Humph! you’re a strange lad. You take French leave, and come to warn me. They fire at you, and hunt you with that great hound, and yet you are going back!”
“Yes,” I said, “as soon as it is light; Esau too.”
“And suppose old Raydon won’t have us back?” cried Esau.
“But he will when he knows why I came.”
“I am not so sure,” said Gunson. “Well, I suppose you are right.”
“No, no,” cried Esau. “I meant to stop along with you. I shan’t go. If I do, it’ll be to fetch mother.”