"And you think that Ernest would be carried there?"
"Yes, they would hardly bring themselves to kill a young boy. He would, of course, be easily overpowered by a grown man, so that there would be no excuse for murderous violence."
"This spoils all my pleasure at capturing John Fox," said Luke, ruefully. "I should be willing to have him go free if only I could get the boy back. 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. But on foot he would not be apt to attract attention. A boy of sixteen is not very apt to be a custodian of money."
"True."
Leaving Luke Robbins to start on his search for Ernest, we will go back to the time when the boy messenger left the bank on the day previous.