Eli made a note of the fact for future reference.
There would perhaps come a day of reckoning, and the account, however long, could be adjusted.
He took up the pack of meat and followed Stackpole, while Dubois walked along a little distance behind.
Perhaps it was accidental, this meeting with the two woodsmen, but Eli doubted it, preferring to believe that they had been watching him ever since he left the camp, with the idea of effecting his capture should the opportunity arise.
With such men this was not a difficult thing to do.
What puzzled him, however, was the trouble they were taking on his account.
If it was simply that coveted gun they wanted, why not turn him adrift after securing possession of the firearm, rather than make a prisoner of him; surely they could not be doing this for the mere sake of compelling him to "tote" the venison to their camp, for that would be slipping up on a point, since he must know where they held out and could carry the information to Cuthbert when released.
Now had it been the young Virginian who was captured, he could readily understand their reason, for Cuthbert had money in abundance, and would pay a round sum to be set at liberty; but who under the sun cared whether he, Eli Perkins, lumber-jack from the Michigan pine woods, were free or a prisoner, living or dead?
And poor Eli was wrestling with these puzzling questions as he trudged wearily after Stackpole; nor did he seem to get any nearer a solution, though approaching the matter from all sides.
Darkness overtook them while they were still tramping through the woods, having covered some miles since leaving the spot where the deer was shot.