“He's still asleep.”
“Then we'll let him be,” he said. But after they had eaten, he stole up-stairs where he found Benny still resting quietly.
“He's sleeping yet, but I'll go see him again before I go to bed,” he told his daughter when he rejoined her in the room below. But when, two hours later, he mounted to Benny's room, he found him wide awake and sitting up in bed. Seeing Ephriam he smiled in friendly recognition, and sank back on the pillow.
“You've had a long sleep, Benny,” said the old man. He seated himself on a low stool beside the bed, placing his candle on the floor at his feet. “Are you hungry?” he added.
“No, not a bit,” said Benny.
“Benny, you're sure it was the Indians that killed your father?”
Benny instantly sat erect again.
“Did they tell you to ask me that?” he demanded, with keen suspicion.
“They? Who do you mean, child?”
“The men.”