Having thus, as he imagined, placed our heroes quite at their ease, the old man took a bite out of his biscuit, first dipping it into the frying-pan, and went on with his questioning. The boys good-naturedly replied, paying no heed to the winks, nods and grunts of disbelief which the two hunters constantly exchanged with Simon Cool, and finally the emigrant came down to their recent exploits.
“Where you been lately and what a doing?” he asked.
“We have just come from the mountains,” was the reply of Archie, who acted as spokesman.
“Humph!” grunted Zack.
“What were you doing there?”
“Hunting wild horses.”
“Did you ever hear tell of the like of that, Zack?” asked Silas.
“I never did,” was the answer. “They’re nice lookin’ chaps to go a huntin’ wild hosses, haint they now?”
“An’ the mountains is a likely place to find ’em, too,” added Silas.