"No, no! Marm and me hollered and hollered, but it weren't any good. I 'lowed I weren't afraid to go in there, but marm, she wouldn't let me. She's erbout crazy. You must go with me. It's only a little way, and you can ride up there on your hoss if you want ter."
As much as he disliked to lose the time, Little Snap felt that it was his duty to go to the assistance of the bereaved family. There could be no deception in the girl's action. She was too much in earnest for that.
"You will go?"
"Yes; lead the way."
Her face brightened, as with a low exclamation of delight, she bounded away from the road along a faintly defined path leading into the depths of the wilderness.
At intervals Little Snap saw the marks of wheel tracks in the sparsely grown sward, and the footprints of oxen's feet occasionally were to be seen.
Presently, when he had begun to think he had gone far enough, they entered a clearing in the growth near to the banks of a small stream, which flowed on toward the Greenbrier.
On the farther side of this valley the postboy discovered a white-topped wagon drawn up in the shadows of the forest, while a short distance away a pair of cattle lazily clipped the long grass.
But he quickly turned from these, as a tall, slatternly-dressed woman of uncertain age advanced swiftly from the base of bluff overlooking the northern side of the opening, saying, in an excited tone:
"Yer found one, Tag. I'm so glad yer hev come, sir. It's a desprit fix we air all in."