"That's so," Sam replied. "We don't want to disturb him while he is busy about something. I will go around to the main street, and stop him if he comes out that way."
This suggestion was approved and adopted. Sam and two of the party went around, and soon appeared at the other end of the street, for they did not want to be seen till the principal had time to attend to them.
It was all of half an hour before Captain Gildrock appeared.
CHAPTER X.
TWO CONFLICTING STORIES.
Captain Gildrock turned his horse, and started on his return by the way he had come. As Ash Burton and the others saw, he was engaged in deep thought, and had his eyes fixed on the floor of the buggy. He seemed to be engaged in some important business; but Ash decided, at once, that the circumstances were enough to warrant him in disturbing his reflections.
"Captain Gildrock!" called the leader of the party, stepping into the street where he was about to pass.
The principal reined in his horse, and seemed to come out of the reverie in which he had been buried.
"We should like to speak to you, sir, when you are ready to hear us," continued Ash.
"I am ready to hear you now, if you have a short story to tell; but I am in a hurry," replied the captain, rather briskly.