"What have you been doing, Frank?" he asked.
"He has been reading to me, papa. He reads nicely, and I liked it very much."
"I am sorry to interrupt you, but are not you young people hungry?"
"I think I could eat something," answered Ernest.
"Frank, you may bring him into the dining-room."
The drapery was lifted, and they passed into a room as large as the one they were in. On a table in the centre a substantial meal, consisting principally of roast beef, was set forth. An old colored woman--intensely black and slightly deformed--hovered near, evidently the cook.
"Juba," said the outlaw, "this is a new boarder. His name is Ernest,"
"Glad to see you, Massa Ernest," rejoined the old woman, nodding her turban. "Sit down here next to Massa Frank."
It seemed very strange to Ernest to reflect that he was the guest of one of the famous outlaws of whom he had heard so much. He was half inclined to doubt whether it was real. If he had been alone he would have pinched himself to see whether he was awake or dreaming. Here he was, in the bowels of the earth, on intimate terms with an outlaw and his family. How long was he to stay in the cavern? That was a question impossible to answer. Meanwhile he was hungry, and the dinner was well cooked.
In spite of his being a prisoner and the loss of the packet, Ernest was almost ashamed of himself for the appetite which he manifested. But it seemed to give pleasure to Juba, who regarded it as a compliment to her cookery.