"Thank you," said Walter; "but I have eaten enough to last me for several hours. Can you tell me how far it is to the next town?"
"About five miles. I'm going to ride over there in about an hour. If you'll wait till then I'll take you over."
Walter very readily consented to wait. He was rather afraid that if he ventured to walk he might find Jack Mangum waiting to waylay him somewhere in the road, and he had no desire for a second encounter with him.
The farmer absolutely refused to accept pay for breakfast, though Walter urged it. It was contrary to his ideas of hospitality.
"We don't keep a tavern," he said; "and we never shall miss the little you ate. Come again and see us if you come back this way."
"Thank you," said Walter, "I will accept your invitation with pleasure, but I shall not feel like calling on Mr. Mangum."
"I've no doubt he would be glad to see you," said Peter Holcomb, smiling.
"Yes, he was very sorry to have me leave him last night."
Walter thought he had seen the last of Jack Mangum; but he was mistaken. Three days later, while walking in the main street of T——, with a book under his arm, for he had received a fresh supply from the agent at Cleveland, he heard the sound of wheels. Looking up, he saw a wagon approaching, containing two men. One of them, as he afterwards learned, was the sheriff. The other he immediately recognized as Jack Mangum. There was no mistaking his sinister face and forbidding scowl. He had been taken early that morning by the sheriff, who, with a couple of men to assist him, had visited the cabin in the forest, and, despite the resistance offered by Jack, who was aided by his wife, he had been bound, and was now being conveyed to jail. He also looked up and recognized Walter. His face became even more sinister, as he shook his fist at our hero.