"Wull, it's jess like this: I s'pose ye air purty anxious to get on to Six Roads?"
"What if I am? I cannot do so if the road is blocked."
"That's jess whar ye air barkin' up th' wrong tree, es I 'lowed ye would. I know a path right over through th' growth wot'll bring ye round to Hollow Tree slick es a coon whistlin' on a stump."
"I shall miss Greenbrier?"
"Sart'inly; sorter go round yit. Then, too, ye'll hev to go through Blazed Acre. Mebbe ye won't care to do thet. Th' Burrnocks think they scooped ye clean this morn'. It'd open their eyes fit to bustin'. Wot d'ye say—go?"
CHAPTER XI.
THE RIDE THROUGH BLAZED ACRE.
Little Snap hesitated a moment before replying to this rather broken speech, during which time Ab Raggles moved restlessly to and fro.
"Yit's a bit likely to brung ye trubble, I'll 'low, younker, but th' boy an' I'll stand by ye like fun. Yit's th' only way fer ye to git home."
"What motive have you, a stranger to me, to offer to do this?" asked the postboy.
"Motif? Didn't ye kem to our risky yesterday? The Raggles may be pore cattle, but they ain't them es fergits their friends."