The postmaster met him at the door, with a troubled look upon his features.
"What in the world have you been doing all this time, Dix Lewis? Hold on! don't dismount. Jason Warfield left word here for me to tell you to come right up to his house the minute you got in. He wants to see you on matters of vital importance. Them's just his words."
"Well, I will run up and see just as soon as I have put Jack in the stable."
"But he said you mustn't stop for that. He said for you to be sure and come the minute you got here. By his looks and actions, it must be something of very great importance."
The Honorable Jason Warfield, as that rather pompous gentleman desired to be known, was considered one of the richest men in Monroe County. In some way, not easily understood by the easy-going inhabitants of Six Roads, a large proportion of the property in town was in his name, and it was doggedly repeated that "he had a mortgage on the rest."
Be that as it may, no move of any importance was made without consulting him, and his sanction to any undertaking was deemed sufficient to insure its success. Of course, such a man had his enemies, but as a rule he was liked.
His was the first name on the Postboy of the Kanawha's bond, and it was generally supposed that he had been principally instrumental in securing Little Snap his situation.
It was no wonder then that the postmaster looked surprised when our hero said that he was going to care for his horse before he visited Mr. Warfield.
"I wouldn't take any such chances," declared the worthy minion of the government, with an ominous shake of his grizzled locks.
Little Snap's home was but a short distance from the post office, so he was quickly there, to be met at the door by his mother and two sisters, both of the latter being younger than he, the three looking very anxious.