"I will do so, if you authorize me."
"I don't think we can do any better. Were you aware that Mr. Fox was the notorious outlaw?" asked Ernest, after a pause.
"I did not know, but latterly I have suspected it. You may be surprised that under the circumstances I should have consented to serve him. But I felt that I might be of assistance to the boy, and that my refusal would occasion him embarrassment. Your letter is satisfactory, as showing that the fortune of your ward is not made up of ill-gotten gains. Were it otherwise, he would hardly be allowed to keep it. Does Frank know his father's character and reputation?"
"I don't think so."
"It had best be kept from him. I will see that it does not become known at school. It would wound the boy to be twitted with it by his schoolmates."
Thanks to Mr. Hardy, Ernest found that the new charge imposed upon him would not materially interfere with his plans. A week later than he had originally intended he and Luke Robbins left Emmonsville by a Western-bound train.
As they rushed rapidly over the prairies, Luke Robbins turned to his young companion and said, "Our journey thus far has been adventurous. I wonder what lies before us?"
"We won't trouble ourselves on that score, Luke. I feel hopeful."
"So do I; and yet we have less than two hundred dollars between us."
"That's true."