“He was fair astonished, it seemed to me. I saw the shadows spring apart, and I saw a movement as though the man had taken out a firearm.
“‘Ah,’ said he, ‘and so he is there! Well, that is a stroke of good fortune that I did not expect. Back you go to this inn, and I with you; we’ll see to this friend of mine at once.’”
“An earnest fellow,” said Ben, quietly. “He would be about his business without delay.”
“But the other checked him,” spoke the hostler; “it would seem that there was other and more pressing work toward. ‘Don’t forget,’ said he, ‘that the hours are passing; and while we are meddling about an inn, wasting time with a boy, the carriage may pass.’”
“The carriage?” said Ben Cooper, and a startled look came into his face.
“‘The carriage may pass,’ were his words,” said the hostler. “And without another instant’s delay the two started off toward the main road, and I saw nothing more of them.”
Ben remained looking at the man for a space; then he asked:
“You don’t know what direction they took, then, when they reached the main road?”
“I lost sight of them in the by-road,” said the hostler; “but,” with some pride, “I can tell you which way they took for all that. My ears made out that they took to the southward.”
“A carriage from the direction of Philadelphia,” muttered the boy as he crossed the yard to the inn with hasty steps. “And being waited for by a gentleman who is much interested in having harm befall myself. I think,” as he pushed open the door, “this is a matter which will bear some little examination.”