Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/233

Rh The farmer delayed no longer, and as soon as the horses were led into the barn and the oat bins had been pointed out, Joseph left Robert to guard the horses while he himself returned with the man to the house. It was strange, he thought, that there should be such an abundance of oats and yet no horses in the barn, except those which he himself and his friend had brought; but he did not refer to the question in his mind, and in a surprisingly brief time the promised breakfast was ready. Robert had been summoned from the barn, and both young men were soon doing ample justice to the viands which were placed on the rude table. The man watched them with evident interest and apparently no unfriendly feeling, but he seldom spoke. At last when the breakfast had been eaten and the boys were ready to rise from the bench on which they had been seated, the man said,—

"Ye 've got one horse there I 've seen before."

"I guess not," replied Joseph laughingly, and yet glancing keenly at the man.

"He looks just the same as when Josh was ridin' him, an' Josh is lookin' for him now. He an' another man were here about half an hour before you two came."