“Well, so it is a good plan,” said Dick somewhat gravely; “but don’t act in haste, else ye may ha’ to repent at leisure. Go an’ speak to yer comrades; see what they advise ye to do, an’ come again an’ let me know. And, now we’re on that pint, I may tell ye that yer friends will be at the head of a valley not four miles from here this very night, an’ they expect ye there.”
“How d’ye know that?” cried March, breathless with amazement.
“Well, ye see, the Wild Man o’ the West knows that you’re in them parts; he has seed you, an’ knows where ye are, an’ he met yer comrades, the trappers, no later than yesterday, an’ told ’em they’d find ye in the valley I spoke of just now; so we must be up an’ away to meet ’em.”
Dick rose as he spoke and began to make preparation to depart.
“But how came you to know this?” inquired the astonished youth.
“Why, the Wild Man an’ me’s oncommon intimate, d’ye see? In fact, I may say we’re jist inseparable companions, an’ so I come to know it that way. But make haste. We’ve no time to lose.”
“Good-bye, Mary,” cried March with a cheerful smile, as he hurried out of the cave after his eccentric companion. “I’ll be back before long, depend on’t.”
Mary nodded, and the two men were soon mounted and out of sight.
“I say, Dick,” observed March as they rode along, “you must get me to see the Wild Man of the West; if you’re so intimate with him, you can easily bring him into the cave; now won’t you, Dick?”
“Well, as I can’t help doin’ it, I s’pose I may say yes at once.”