“I am not a horse-thief!” exclaimed Ned.
“Of course you are not. But you acknowledge that you kept Silk Stocking in your possession after you knew he was stolen, and that’s a crime in the eyes of our people!”
“Don’t you think I can ever come back?” asked Ned.
“O, yes! It will all blow over after a while, but you must be very careful in future, for a second offence of this kind would be sure to lead to something serious.”
Ned was overjoyed to hear this. Now that he had recovered from his fright so that he could think clearly, he began to ask himself what the future had in store for him. How could he live if he were obliged to leave Texas? He knew that his father would be quite willing to support him, no matter where he might choose to take up his abode, but he could not do it without drawing heavily on the revenues of the estate, and it was not at all likely that George would consent to that; consequently Ned would be compelled to go to work and earn his own support. That was something the boy did not want to do. He had lived so long in idleness that the very thought of work was most distasteful to him. He told himself that he would indeed be careful how he acted when he came back to the ranche, and that nothing could ever again induce him to foolishly jeopardise his chances of living a life of ease.
“Mr. Gilbert has often advised me to go away and see a little of the world, especially of my own country, and I don’t know that I shall ever have a better opportunity,” continued George. “I’d like first to go up the Mississippi, clean up to its source, and come back in a canoe. Canoeing is getting to be a favorite sport with some people.”
“That would be splendid,” exclaimed Ned, with great enthusiasm. “I’ll go with you.”
George made no reply. He had not looked for so prompt an endorsement of an idea that had but just suggested itself to him, and besides, his cousin was the last boy in the world he would have chosen for a companion during a journey of that kind. If he made it at all, he wanted to make it a pleasure trip; and for that reason he wanted Ned to have nothing to do with it.
“I have read about the cruise of the Rob Roy on the Jordan,” continued Ned, “and I’d like to make one just like it. I think a voyage down the Mississippi would be the next best thing. We ought to take our guns and some fishing tackle with us, and we shall need a tent and cooking utensils. Won’t we have fun, though? Let’s go, George.”
“And while you are having so much fun what will I be doing?” asked Gus.