“I ran away in the night; when they was all asleep.”
“So you fooled 'em—well, you was smart; but didn't they hunt for you any afterwards?”
“I hid in the rocks.” He pointed vaguely to the broken hills in the west. “They looked all around for me and never found me, but I saw them. Then they went away.”
“How long ago was that?”
The child looked troubled.
“I don't know,” he finally answered.
“I 'low you ain't forgot your name?”
“No.
“Well, what is it, son?”
“Benny Rogers,” then all at once he began to cry from sheer weakness and wretchedness.