"Why not? What's awry?" demanded Robert quickly.
"Nothin' as yet. I 'll let Betsey go," Jacob said, after a moment of thought. "When ye goin' to push on?"
"Early to-morrow morning."
"Why don't ye go to-night?"
"I want to give my horse a rest; and then, too, I may be better off myself if I get a few hours of sleep. Why? Is there any special reason why I ought not to stop?"
"I dunno's there is," replied the man hesitatingly. "I 've heerd that some o' Claud Brown's gang is hereabouts."
"You have? You have?" demanded Robert quickly. "What are they doing so far back from the river as this?"
"Oh, this is a part o' their stampin' ground. They 're first in one place an' then in another, and then again they 're somewhere else."
"I don't want to meet any of them," said Robert thoughtfully.
"Ye won't have to if ye push on. Come in an' get some supper, anyway, an' then we can tell afterwards what's best to be done. I don't want to get ye into any trouble."
The man appeared to be sincere, and Rob-
