“I not only saw, but I heard,” said the hostler in the same low tone. “You see, the miller holds some grain belonging to the inn to be ground when wanted. And so to-night, after you had driven the bully away, I went to the mill to tell the miller that we’d need more rye on the morrow. I had not reached the main road on the way back, when I saw a thin shadow moving in the lighter shadows of the road; and as I stopped to watch it, I saw a second shadow move out and join the first.”
The man paused here, and one of his hands touched Ben upon the arm.
“It was here that my knowledge of the night road was of service. One who knew naught of its secrets would have seen nothing of this, or if they had chanced to see, would have considered it of no moment. But I understood—the shadows could be nothing less than men—men who had met together for some purpose which, perhaps, was not of the best.
“And so,” proceeded the hostler, “knowing this, I must know more. They had paused, had the shadows, and it was an easy matter to approach them. There they stood by the roadside, close together, and their voices came clearly to my ears.
“‘And,’ said one of them, ‘you thought it well to keep me prowling up and down in the cold while you had your supper?’
“‘It was no fault of my own,’ said the second. ‘I hurried the best I could. Indeed, if I had waited until they cooked a supper for me, I would have waited until midnight. As it was, I tried to come by that belonging to another, knowing you’d be awaiting me; and I failed even in that.’”
Ben drew in a breath long with interest; the speaker went on:
“The other man laughed. ‘And so you have come out upon the venture with an empty stomach?’ said he.
“‘I have,’ replied the other, ‘and all because of a particular friend of yours who entered the inn while I was negotiating the meal.’ At this saying the other seemed puzzled; and the man had to enlighten him. ‘A close friend of yours,’ said he, ‘and one of whom you spoke with some interest to me not many hours ago.’”
“Ah,” said Ben Cooper, softly. “And what did he say to that?”