“Can you tell me anything that will help me in my expedition?” asked Luke. “Have you any idea where the Fox gang would be likely to carry Ernest?”
“It is generally supposed that the band have a secret rendezvous somewhere within a dozen miles, but no one has been able to discover where it is.”
“And you think that Ernest would be carried there?”
“Yes, they would hardly bring themselves to kill a young boy. He would be easily overpowered by a grown man, so that there would be no excuse for murderous violence.”
“How did the boy go?”
“He walked.”
“But it was a long distance.”
“Yes, about ten miles. We at first thought of providing him with a saddle-horse, but there was one objection.”
“What was that?”
“He would have been more likely to be suspected of being out on some mission.”