Page:Tomlinson--The rider of the black horse.djvu/59

Rh window or opening in the room besides the door, and at first Robert was unable to make out what the room contained. In a brief time, however, his eyes became somewhat accustomed to the dim light, and he could see that there was a table, a few rude chairs or stools, and in one corner a heap of some kind, he could not determine what. It was evident that he had been brought to the hiding-place of some one of the numerous bands of outlaws or cowboys that infested the region, and with whose deeds he was already familiar. It certainly was humiliating to the feelings of the young soldier to be made a prisoner by such men. If he had been taken and his precious letter had been seized by those who were enrolled in the army of King George it would not have been quite so humiliating, he thought; but to be seized by the cowboys and held as a prisoner by them until they should be well paid for delivering him into the hands of his enemies was to make a bad matter even worse. And that such was to be his fate Robert Dorlon had not a doubt.

In a brief time the huge Josh returned, but he was alone, and Robert concluded that the man who had led him to the place had gone back to rejoin his fellows, leaving him alone