Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/253

Rh "Oh, he's here fast enough," roared the man who had first spoken. "We have had word of him for five miles back. Now, will you turn him over to us?"

Again Jacob replied, but Robert still could not hear what was said.

"That won't do, Jake!" almost shouted the first speaker. "We know what we 're talkin' about, and the cub either went past here or he stopped here. If he's here, you 've got to give him up, an' that's all there is to it!"

There was a silence for a moment, and then the voice of the man became louder and harsher. "I don't wish ye any ill, Jake, though ye have served us a mean trick or two. I 'll let that all go if ye give up the cub now. If ye 'll say t' me that he went on past here I won't trouble ye any more, for with all yer failin's I never knew ye to lie, Jake, an' that's more'n I can say o' any other man in the county."

Suddenly Robert started in his hiding-place, for it had come to him in a flash that he knew that voice. It was the voice of Claudius Brown, and there could be no mistaking it now. He did not know how many men were with the leader, and with difficulty Robert restrained