"Oh, Joseph, I don't know whether I want you to go up there or not," said his mother, growing frightened again.
"I must!" replied Joe, decidedly. "I have promised to be at Tom's cabin to-morrow morning at daylight, and that settles it. I wonder if father and Dan will go?"
That was the very question that Silas and his worthy son were propounding to each other as they sat side by side on the river's bank.
The terrible fright they had sustained on the day they went after the money was still fresh in their minds; but then, there was the reward, which was a sure thing this time, provided they could be fortunate enough to capture the robbers.
They were both willing, and even eager, to join in the "hue-and-cry" that was to be raised against the thieves, provided they could do it in their own way; and the plans they were revolving in their minds, but of which they did not speak, were the same in every particular.
For example, Dan wanted his father to stay at home, and after he got into the mountains, he wanted nobody but Joe for company.
The latter had showed himself to be bold as well as lucky, and if they two should happen to catch one of the robbers, Dan would not feel that he was under the slightest obligation to share the reward with his brother, because Joe had more than three thousand dollars of his own already. But if his father went with him, he would lay claim to half the money, and he would be likely to get it, too, for he had the right to take every cent Dan made.
This was the way Dan looked at the matter; and it was the very way his father looked at it. The result was, that although they spent an hour or more in looking it over, they went to bed without deciding whether they would go or not.
Nevertheless, they had well-defined plans in their heads, and each one resolved that he would carry them out regardless of the wishes of the other.
Silas, in order to throw Dan off his guard, began operations by saying to his wife, the moment he entered the cabin: