“Oh! seeing that he was off work, he must have just made up his mind he might as well be killed for a sheep as a lamb; is that it, Ralph?” demanded Tubby.
“Something like it, I guess,” answered the other, at the same time giving Rob at his side a queer look, together with a frown.
Rob could easily guess what was passing through the mind of the boy at the wheel of the car; he believed that Peleg must be spending the money he had received for those packets of foreign stamps in paying for the horse and buggy with which he was driving over to see his sister.
It was not a pleasant thought to Rob. He wished the whole affair would make haste to reach a settlement; if Peleg were guilty, the sooner the fact became known to Ralph the better; if, on the other hand, he could prove his innocence, it was too bad to keep up this feeling of suspicion.
They started on again. So far as they knew, Peleg had not once looked toward the road as he drove up along the lane leading to the farmhouse just beyond the brow of the rise. Apparently he was at the time so excited over the thought of seeing his sister again that he had eyes and ears for nothing else; and the mere passing of a car held no attraction for him. Rob thought it was just as well, for Peleg might have signalled to them; and in some way Ralph was likely to burst forth, perhaps openly accusing the boy in the presence of the others.
So they went on. Ralph kept his thoughts to himself, not even speaking of Peleg to Rob at his side. The others, very naturally, continued to exchange remarks that Ralph could not help hearing above the purr of the engine.
“Well, anyhow,” Tubby was saying, with his accustomed zeal, “I’m glad to know he wasn’t hurt any in the fire. When he failed to show up at the time we were leaving I felt worried. Lots of people got injured, I’m sure, for the crowd acted like it was crazy, running back and forth, and knocking everybody over who got in the way.”
“Peleg is all right, we know now,” interjected Andy. “He’s wanted to see this sister of his for some time, I reckon, and took this chance to get around. Oh! look at that bull chasing after that dog in the field, will you? The little barker is too smart for the clumsy beast; but if ever he gets those horns underneath him, I give you my word for it he’ll clear thirty feet in the air if he does one.”
Little escaped their eyes as they rode along. First one and then another would call attention to something of interest that was seen, now on the right and again on the left. Tubby even declared that he was beginning to believe he had a regular “rubber-neck,” they kept him looking so much.
Back at the farm again, they lounged around the balance of the afternoon. Ralph often looked along the road they had so recently driven over, and Rob made up his mind that the other was hoping to see Peleg coming. To his mind this proved that while Ralph had kept unusually quiet on the subject, he was still worrying about the status of the farm boy.