Now all this was interesting enough, no doubt, but what I wanted to hear about was something more startling. I could not really give up all at once the idea of an adventure in the West, so I said, "But didn't anything wonderful happen to you, Mrs. Boyd?"
"No, I can't say there did," replied the lady, slightly surprised, I could see, by my question.
Then, rallying my geography with an effort, I asked, "Weren't you carried off by the Indians, or swept away by a flood?"
"No, I was many hundred miles away from the Indian Reservation, and did not see a single Red man," replied Mrs. Boyd; "and as for floods—well, my dear, I could tell you the ridiculous straits we were put to for want of water, but I can't even imagine a flood on those parched and dried-up plains."
An Adventure
"Well," said I, in an aggrieved voice, "I think you might have come back with at least one adventure after being away for three months."
"An adventure!" exclaimed Mrs. Boyd, in astonishment, and then a flash of recollection passed over her countenance, and she continued, "Oh, yes, I did have one; I had an adventure with an highwayman."
"Oh!" cried all the ladies, in a delighted chorus.
"See there, now!" said Miss Bascombe, as if appropriating to herself the credit of the impending narrative.
"I knew it!" said I, with triumph, conscious that to me was due the glory of unearthing the tale.