With this reflection George scraped his bed of leaves a little closer together, threw another stick of wood on the fire, and tried to follow his two guests into the land of dreams; but the sleep he so much needed to prepare him for the next day’s journey would not come at his bidding. All the night long he tossed restlessly about on his hard couch, and about half an hour before daylight sank into an uneasy slumber.
CHAPTER XIV.
GOOD AND BAD NEWS.
When George awoke it was just daylight. The ranchemen were already stirring, and one was folding the blankets, while the other was punching up the fire to obtain a light for his pipe.
“Good-morning, my lad,” said the latter, cheerfully. “We thought, seeing we had no breakfast to eat, that we would solace ourselves with a smoke. Now, if you will put us on our course, we shall be much obliged to you.”
“The rancho you want to reach lies directly east of here and is about thirty-five miles distant,” answered George, after he had returned the man’s greeting. “Hold a straight course for the sun, until you strike a big trail running north and south. Turn south on that trail, and when you have followed it about ten miles, you will strike Mr. Gilbert’s rancho. He will direct you the rest of the way. I have thought a good deal about what you told me last night, and I can’t understand why that boy kept that horse.”
“Neither can I,” said the rancheman.
“As he is a boy, I hope you will be easy with him,” continued George.
“I will; but the next time he sees a stolen horse he will run from it, I bet you!”
It was plain that the rancheman had not yet relented, and that he never would relent; so George fell back on the plan he had determined upon the night before.
“Yes, the boy needs a lesson,” said he; “but for his father’s sake, I hope you will not be too severe. I have been acquainted with Mr. Dickerman for a long time, and I know him to be an honest man. You needn’t think he would——”