Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/309

Rh "He, he," tittered the man. "You are an early bird."

Robert did not feel that any response to the assertion was required, so he did not reply.

"Who might you be, young man? Are you?"—The man stopped abruptly and evidently was waiting for Robert to declare who he was and to explain his presence there at that early hour. But Robert had been taught caution, and was convinced that if he replied when he was spoken to he was properly fulfilling the popular requirement of the times.

"Do you come from the fort?" demanded the man.

"No, sir."

"Ah!" responded the old man, with evident relief. "I might have known," he added, as he glanced at Robert's garb,—a glance which Robert himself almost unconsciously followed,—and a smile crept over his face as he took in his somewhat startling appearance in the cut and tattered garments.

"Did you happen to meet with any parties?" inquired the old man. "If you did not come from the fort, doubtless you came from the opposite direction."

"Yes, sir."