"I was just a-wonderin' if mebbe you wasn't the same feller that
was over in Lonesome last fall."
"Maybe I am--my name's Hale." The girl laughed. "Well, if this
ain't the beatenest! I've heerd June talk about you. My brother
Dave don't like you overmuch," she added frankly. "I reckon we'll
see Dave purty soon. If this ain't the beatenest!" she repeated,
and she laughed again, as she always did laugh, it seemed to Hale,
when there was any prospect of getting him into trouble.
"You can't git over thar till long atter dark," she said again
presently.
"Is there any place on the way where I can get to stay all night?"
"You can stay all night with the Red Fox on top of the mountain."
"The Red Fox," repeated Hale.
"Yes, he lives right on top of the mountain. You can't miss his
house."
"Oh, yes, I remember him. I saw him talking to one of the Falins
in town to-day, behind the barn, when I went to get my horse."
"You--seed--him--a-talkin'--to a Falin AFORE the trouble come up?"
the girl asked slowly and with such significance that Hale turned
to look at her. He felt straightway that he ought not to have said
that, and the day was to come when he would remember it to his
cost.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79