He could even look beyond the muzzle, as the barrels sloped downward toward him, and he now saw distinctly that the two little upright steel nipples bore no caps. The discovery made him annoyed at his own cowardice. It was easier now to be bold.
"What's your idea, anyway?" he asked the man, with an added effrontery in his tone. "If you'd been going to shoot, you'd have done it long ago. This thing doesn't scare me at all, and I don't see how it does you any good. What are you getting at, anyhow?"
"I'd as soon shoot you as look at you!" the other declared with angry emphasis, but lowering the weapon.
"Yes, but seeing you ain't going to shoot, what are you going to do?" Lafe put in.
The ruffian eyed him again. "If I agree not to hurt you, will you do what I tell you?" he demanded.
"Well, maybe I will," replied the boy. His spirits rose as his contempt for this slow and shilly-shallying sort of scoundrel increased. "What is it you want me to do?"
"I want you to help me carry some things I've got together over there, on the other side of the creek. Well go over now, and bring 'em back here."
"I'll take another bite of bread, first," it occurred to the boy to say. He lifted a haversack, and shoved in one hand to burrow among its contents, while with his foot, as if by accident, he pushed one of the muskets lengthwise so that he might grab it the more readily if occasion required.
Biting in leisurely fashion on the new crust he had found, Lafe felt emboldened to make the conversation personal.
"That's a mighty fine watch you've got there," he remarked, affably. "I suppose it went with the pistol—sort o' thrown in, like."