"Who are you?" she asked doubtfully.
"Don't be afraid, ma'am, it's only me."
"And you—"
"Are the man you saved this morning!"
"God be thanked! Then you were not killed?"
"Do I look like a dead man? No, my time hasn't come yet. I foiled 'em in the wood, and there I have spent all day. Have you any victuals, for I am famished?"
"Yes, come in."
"I can not stay. I will take what you have and leave at once, for the villains may be lurkin' round here somewhere. But first, the bullet! have you that safe?"
"Here it is."
The scout put it in his pocket, and taking in his hand a paper box of bread and meat which his loyal hostess brought him, resumed his hazardous journey.