“St. Louis.”
“How long ye goin’ to be gone?”
“A week or two, at least.”
“Want me to keep yer horse fur ye till ye come back, I reckon, don’t ye?”
“O, no. As soon as he has finished his breakfast I’ll put the saddle on him, tie the bridle fast to it so that it can’t fall off, and turn him loose. He’ll find his way home all right.”
While this conversation was going on Bob had followed the man through a pair of bars, that gave entrance into a yard in the rear of the store, and into a shed where there was a long trough, with a couple of rope halters made fast to it. Bob put one of these halters on his horse, after relieving him of the saddle and bridle, saw him supplied with a good breakfast of corn, and then followed the man back to the house and into the kitchen, where a woman, whom Bob took to be the Betsy of whom his host had spoken, was busy laying the table, and superintending the cooking of some ham and eggs. In compliance with a signal, conveyed by the wave of the man’s hand, Bob took possession of the nearest chair, while the man himself went out into the store, closing the door behind him. The latch, however, did not hold, and the door swung open two or three inches. Bob scarcely noticed this at the time it occurred, but his attention was called to it in a very few minutes.
The woman who was preparing breakfast did not prove to be very sociable, for she never spoke to her guest (although the boy more than once caught her in the act of staring very hard at him), until she had placed the ham and eggs on the table, and then she invited him rather curtly to “set up.” After that, as if she considered that she had done her whole duty, she went into another room and shut the door behind her, leaving Bob to wait on himself.
“These are the queerest people I ever saw,” thought the boy, as he drew his chair to the table. “They act as if they don’t want me here; and if that is the case, why don’t they say so? This isn’t the only house in the settlement at which I can obtain a breakfast. Perhaps they are Yankees, and afraid that they won’t get pay for what I eat.”
Bob was too hungry to follow out this train of thought any farther. He devoted himself entirely to the viands before him, and had just poured out a second cup of coffee and helped himself to a second egg, when his attention was attracted by the sound of voices in the store. He distinctly heard his own name pronounced, and after listening for a few moments he caught some words that made his cheek blanch. The men in the store must have been excited about something, for they talked in pretty loud tones, and every syllable they uttered came plainly to Bob’s ears through the open door.
“Wal, Aleck, what does he have to say fur himself?” asked a voice.