“Those men are following me around under the impression that I still have the horse in my possession,” said Ned, angrily. “Why didn’t you tell them that he went off with the raiders?”
“Because I didn’t have the chance,” replied his father. “They never came near my house that night. If they will go back to Mr. Gilbert’s they will find money enough in his hands to pay for the horse and for their trouble, too. By the way, where’s George?”
Ned looked up at his father in surprise. He had never before known him to throw so much earnestness into a simple question, or seem so eager for an answer to it.
“O, a couple of Greasers took him away from us!” said Ned, indifferently. “I’ll tell you all about it by and by.”
“Come around to my hotel,” said Uncle John, hurriedly. “I want to know all about it now. We have a good many other things to talk about also.”
Yes, they had many things to talk about, and it took them a long time to explain matters so that each might know what had happened to the other during their short separation. Ned told a truthful story, but he did not learn so very much from his father in return. There were some things that Uncle John thought it best to keep to himself.
And where were George and Gus all this while? The story of their adventures is too long to be told in this book. We shall begin it immediately in the second volume of this series, and as we go along we shall take up the history of another runaway, Tony Richardson by name, of whose short experience with the ways of the world we have already had something to say. We shall also take our hero, George Ackerman, away from his home, and tell of his experience and exploits in an occupation he had never dreamed of following. The volume will be entitled, “George at the Wheel; or, Life in the Pilot-house.”
THE END.
