Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/57

Rh which they were going, and though there was no likelihood of his retracing it soon, still he was striving to mark certain places so that he would not be lost if fortune by any turn of her wheel should chance to favor him.

After a walk of eight minutes, though Robert was hardly aware of the time that had elapsed, they halted before a rude structure, built of rough boards and logs, and covering a space of about fifteen feet square. A low call from the man brought from within the hut another man, and as Robert gazed at him in surprise the prisoner fancied that never before had he looked upon so huge a being. The man must have been at least six feet and six inches in height, and his enormous frame seemed to the startled prisoner to be even more immense than it really was.

It became speedily evident that the two men were well known to each other, for Robert's captor said, "I 've a fellow here for you to look after, Josh, and you must not let him slip through your fingers either. He's slippery and he's valuable, too."

When Josh replied it was in a voice that was deeper than Robert thought he ever had heard, but it was not unmusical, and under