He was, therefore, very glad to see Forester and Marco coming. He asked them to come and help him.
Forester and Marco were immediately going to attempt to unbuckle the harness, but the man told them that there was danger of their getting kicked by the horse, in case he should suddenly begin to struggle.
"Come here," said the man, "and hold the wagon back and I will loosen the harness."
By means of this plan of operations, the horse was soon liberated from his confinement, and he got up. The man seemed very thankful to Forester and Marco, and he asked them where they were going.
"We are going to No. 3," said Forester. "Is this the right way?"
The townships in a new country are numbered at first, not named. The place to which Marco and Forester were going had yet very few inhabitants, and it had no name but No. 3.
"Yes," replied the man, "this is the right road. I wish I was going that way, I would take you along in my wagon."
This answer puzzled Marco a little, on two accounts. First, the man was going the same way with them, but then Marco thought that, perhaps, he was going to turn off, pretty soon, into some other road. Then, secondly, he did not see how the man could possibly carry him and Forester, in any event, as the wagon seemed completely filled with bags, and kegs, and firkins, leaving scarcely room for the man himself to sit.
Forester told the man that they could walk very well; but he said that they were hungry, and if the man had anything to eat, in his wagon, they should be glad to buy something of him.
"Yes," replied the man, "I've a loaf of bread that I can spare, and a jug of milk."