"Yes, yes; but did any one ever know me to tattle?" he responded.
"Well, here's luck to you," the other answered
"Here's to your health, and hoping you will fix the thing up without more delay," Burke responded, drinking in his turn.
"Thank you; I'll not put it off a minute longer than necessary. Now will you come with me, or do you stay here?"
"No; I will go with you. I have no great fancy for this place. It might turn out to be a trap like the other," Burke responded.
"Well, let us be off, then."
"Yes," Burke answered, coming toward me, but, as before, without entering the closet where I lay. Returning presently, the two left the room without saying more, closing the door after them.
For a time I lay still, lest they should return, but nothing of the kind happening, I crept into the main room and so to the door, which I opened, and without looking to the right or left, plunged into the dark forest. Running some distance, I stopped and listened, but could hear nothing save the wash of the waves on the river-bank and the soft murmuring of the wind in the tops of the trees. Circling the cabin, I found my horse as I had left him, and mounting made my way through the forest to an abandoned piece of ground back of the hut. This I discovered to be the cornfield Black Hawk had once tilled, as the mounds plainly showed. Stopping, I surveyed it, thinking how simple of occupation had been the life of this, the greatest among the savage men of the earth; and to this day, not less than then, I cannot think of the place and its neglect and solitude except with a sigh of wonder and regret. Crossing the field, I made my way home, arriving there ere night had set in and without notice having been taken of my absence. For this I was glad, being determined to say nothing of what I had heard or seen. I knew not who was to be robbed nor when, and nothing therefore would come of speaking, save the discovery of my hiding-place. When I went to the house some time afterward, Mrs. Blake on seeing me cried out in affright:
"Are you ill, Gilbert, or what has happened? You are pale as death!"
"It's nothing, only the horse was new, and I have had a hard ride," I answered, putting her off; "but I'm tired and will go to bed without waiting for supper, if you don't care."