Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/395

Rh But he ought to have known enough to keep away from Claud Brown. He was known by the company he kept," retorted Joseph, with a laugh.

It was difficult for Robert to understand how his friend could look upon these events lightly. For himself, the horror of them was so great that it seemed to him the effect would never depart. The very fact that he had had experiences of his own with these outlaws made the fate that had overtaken them the more impressive. It might all be, as Joseph suggested, a part of the expected events of war-time, but the horror of it was none the less real.

"Joe," he said, "do you know what became of Dirck?"

"Dirck Rykman? Oh, he's back in his old home as chipper as ever."

"He is?"

"Yes. That was a mistake about his being taken. Oh, he was taken all right enough, but they found out that he was being used by the Tories and that he did n't understand what it was he was doing. This fellow Russell," he added, "when we took him back there in the woods must have thought at first we were taking him to Sir Henry, for he asked us if we