It seemed to take Mr. Westall a long time to get his pipe going to his satisfaction, and when at last he spoke, it was easy to see that he was angry at Rodney for inquiring so particularly into matters that did not in any way concern him.
"It is very strange that you fail to understand me after I have taken such_ pains to go into details," said he, impatiently. "The fact that young Percival didn't steal the horse doesn't matter. We were bound to get rid of him before he could have time to raise and drill a company of Home Guards in our settlement, and the only way we could do it was to charge him with some crime that would make everybody, Union and Confederate, mad at him. See? But somehow he got wind of our plans (that shows how impossible it is to trust anybody these times), and dug out."
"On his own horse?" asked Rodney.
"Of course. We put after him, taking care to cut him off from the old post-road which he would have to follow to reach Springfield, and making him stay in the river counties among people who would do all in their power to help us catch him. He's a sharp one, and there aint no better critter than the one that has kept him ahead of us for nearly ten days. He has ridden that one horse all the time, while we have had to change now and then. He spent one night with Jeff in this cabin—"
"And the way he did pull the wool over our eyes was a caution," Nels interposed. "Why, if you could a heard him talk you would a thought, as we did, that he had been gunning for Union men and living on 'em ever since the furse began. He let on that he was in a great hurry to get over the river to see about getting some guns for Price's men, and we swallered every word he said."
"Tom always could tell a slick story," was Rodney's mental comment.
"He had a watch chain that was adzactly like your'n, and the minute I seen it I said to myself that you was him," said Nels in conclusion.
"We were close upon his heels," continued Mr. Westall. "We arrived here the next morning, about four hours after he left, and when we told Jeff and his friends what a neat trick had been played upon them, they became not only angry but very suspicious."
"Unreasonably suspicious," added Rodney, in a tone of disgust. "Does Jeff or anybody else suppose for a moment that I would have come back to this camp if I had been in Percival's place?"
"That was what beat my time and I said so," answered Nels. "I never would have suspicioned you if it hadn't been for that watch chain of your'n, and the story you told about not knowing the country around Springfield. The captain of the Mollie Able said you was one of Price's men, and we took it for granted that you had been riding with him. But I am satisfied now."