Page:Randall Parrish - The Red Mist.djvu/344

 324 Reb I didn't know. Anyhow we were willing enough to see them pass on out o' sight. They looked and talked as though they were spoiling for a fight."

"How many?"

"Thirty, or forty—a right smart crowd. There was only two come up, and rode round the church—a big fellow with a red beard, and a little weasened-faced fox he called Kelly."

"Yes, I know them; they were hunting after us. Did they go on east?"

"They did. So has everyone else we've seen to-day. That's what puzzled us, as to just what might be up. I reckon you must be some popular to create such a furore. Why, an hour after sun-up a whole blame company of blue-coats went by, riding like mad, their horses dripping, and a young fellow spurring them on. He'd lost his hat, and they never so much as took a side-look at this shebang. They were in some hurry, my friend."

"And neither party has returned?"

"Not a sign of them."

"What force have you here?"

"Twenty-eight enlisted men."

"You have pickets out?"

"One man each way, a mile down the road, concealed. The tower up there commands the country in both directions."