The faithful steed needed no urging to do this, and with the reports of the baffled men's firearms and the cries of the startled Raggles family ringing in his ears, the postboy of the Kanawha dashed furiously down the path leading to the main road from Greenbrier to Six Roads.
Not a word escaped his tightly compressed lips, until the highway was reached, when he patted his horse on the neck, saying, gently:
"Easy, now, Jack, old boy; the danger is over for the present. It was a close call, but a miss is as good as a mile, though I don't care to go through that experience again."
Slackening his gait to an easy canter, Jack bore his rider on without further urging. The truth was, the postboy's mind was busy trying to solve the subject of the meeting in the cave of the four unknown men. He was also puzzled to understand the actions of the Raggles family. While he could not believe that their story to get him into the cave had been a hoax, he was unable to understand their reappearance upon the scene.
The postboy was still trying to solve these problems, when he reached a small town called by the singular name of Daring's Diamond.
He found the postmaster, Mr. Anderson, impatiently awaiting his appearance.
"Late again," greeted the official, in a disagreeable tone.
"I could not very well help it," replied Little Snap, handing him the mail pouch.
"That is what you say every time. You are an hour overdue. Mr. Meiggs, who has just gone out, has been talking pretty loud about you. If I were in your place, I would not let this happen again. People who are having mail want it on time. It may not make any difference to the Blazed Acre cattle, but it does to civilized people, I have noticed."
It wasn't so much what the postmaster said as the way in which he said it that nettled Little Snap, though he made no reply. This Mr. Meiggs referred to was one of the postboy's bondsmen.