At this point the Gray Pony paused and bit at a speckled fly that was sitting on his fat side out of reach of the sweep of his tail.
“Is that all?” asked Buster John.
“It is enough,” replied the Gray Pony. “A few days afterward, being on the far side of the plantation, I heard a plough mule telling Mr. Gossett’s buggy horse that the Son of Ben Ali had gone to the woods.”
The Gray Pony, saying this, turned and walked away.
V.
RAMBLER, THE TRACK DOG, BEGINS HIS STORY.
The children thought that they had been treated somewhat impolitely by the Gray Pony, and so, as soon as they could find an opportunity, and when they thought he was in a good humor, they asked him why he walked away so abruptly and refused to tell them the reason Aaron went to the woods and what befell him when he got there.
“As for that,” the Gray Pony answered, “I know nothing of the matter of my own knowledge. It is all hearsay with me. The Son of Ben Ali can tell you. He knows. He was there.”
The children had to be content with this until they found an opportunity to talk with Aaron. He was very busy during the day, and sometimes at night, managing the affairs of the plantation, but he told them that whenever they saw a light in his cabin right after supper, he would have time to talk to them. This happened the next night. Drusilla saw the light, and told Sweetest Susan and Buster John it was there, and in a few minutes they were all in Aaron’s cabin.
They found him baking a hoecake and frying some bacon, and it smelt so good that Buster John’s mouth began to water, although he had just eaten his supper.