Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/251

Rh "No; but I don't want to make it any harder for you. If you think"—

"I don't think. I don't do nothin' at all. All I can say is, I wish this pesky war was over. The way some o' my neighbors has been burned out o' house an' home is something I don't like to think about. My turn will come pretty quick, I s'pose. But I'm not complaining', he added gruffly. "I thought yer horse might be safer here in th' woods 'n it would be in the barn if anybody happened along. Come on, we 'll go up t' th' house now an' see if we can get ye somethin' t' eat. Ye won't get much, I c'n tell ye that afore we start."

"I don't want much, and I'd rather not trouble you if it is going to make it any harder for you. I can get something farther on."

Jacob did not reply, and so Robert followed him without a word until they were again near the barn. Here Jacob, as if by sheer force of habit, stopped and peered first down and then up the road by which Robert had come. Suddenly he started and gazed long in the latter direction, and Robert, startled by the landlord's manner, also looked anxiously up the road. A little cloud of dust could be seen in