The log road seemed to take the right direction, and rather than search through the woods for the main highway, the boys held to it. It was comfortable riding here too, and the overhanging branches served to keep the hot afternoon sun from bothering the travelers.
The boys rode in silence, broken only by occasional comments upon their stormy trip thus far, and sometimes they spoke of the small wild furry folk scampering away through the underbrush aroused by the intrusion of these strangers upon their domains.
The calm of a warm summer afternoon in the forest settled upon the boys, and they were both glad of the relief, after their continued excitement and vigilance. Dick's thoughts traveled back to their home up north, and lingered longer than necessary on a very close relative of Ben Foster's, namely, Ben's sister. And when he recovered with a guilty start from those pleasant memories, his mind roamed again to Ben, himself, lying in the Charleston hospital, with Tom and Tim, bless them, watching over him.
They, too, were perhaps under way by this time and before long they would either meet where the trail struck in across the mountains, or they would be traveling very closely after one another. And yet, in the unforeseen future, one of them might fail to complete that journey. But no, Dick refused to entertain such discouraging thoughts.
Dick came to with a start. He had been dozing there in the shade of the great forest trees; in fact, Fritz was still half asleep in his saddle. The horses had walked steadily on, all this time, however, and now they were back in the main roadway again.
"Wake up, old man!" called Dick.
"Yah. Um," yawned Fritz, coming back to earth.
"We have got to keep our eyes open, now," said Dick.
And they did, until some time after night fall, when both of them, tired with the day's march, climbed from their saddles, walked back into the sparsely covered timber land with their horses, and prepared for another night in the open.