"Let us go, sir," murmured Ayres very softly. Norton nodded, rose, and they left the room together.
Five minutes later they were sitting side by side in the chairs before the tavern, pipes out. Norton's thoughts were dwelling on this man Duval, and he wondered afresh if the lawyer had been behind that attempted assassination of the morning. The man hardly seemed of such a nature; he had quieted the rivermen by sheer force of voice and muscle, and was plainly a man known and feared.
"Who is this Duval?" asked Norton, glancing at his friend.
"A lawyer, sir, who speaks of going to the Legislature next fall. He comes of a good Virginia family, settled here some three years since, and has a fair practice. A rising man, sir, a rising man. One of our ablest citizens, and already talks of raising a company in case General Harrison has trouble with the redskins."
Norton thought he detected a faint hint of sarcasm in the precise voice, but Ayres's pinched, red-cheeked face was expressionless.
"Well, have you any sort of plan, Mr. Ayres?"
"An excellent one, sir," came the surprising answer. Ayres knocked out his pipe slowly. "I would suggest that you follow Colonel Boone's advice, and go to see this man Red Hugh, of whom he told you. When you have seen him, you may expect a messenger from me at the Blue River settlement—on the Kentucky side, remember, for there are two. I may find it feasible to put your prior plan into operation and use a rich-laden flatboat for lure."
"Hm!" Norton looked at the other keenly. "Do you seriously believe that Duval had anything to do with the man who shot at me this morning?"
He was amazed, upon meeting the black eyes of his friend, to find them in a terrible earnestness.
"Sir,"—and the dry precise voice quivered the slightest bit—"it is my honest belief that if you remain in this town overnight, you will be murdered."