"
"The devil he did!"
"How did you know he was following you?" exclaimed Frank and the
Commodore, almost in a breath.
"Did you see him?"
"Not I--but I heard him howl half a dozen times, and each time nearer
than before. When I got out of the hills he was not six hundred yards
behind me."
"Pleasant, that! Were you armed? What did you do?"
"It was not really so unpleasant, after all--for I knew that he would
not attack me at that season of the year. I had my pistols in my
holsters; and for the rest, I jogged steadily along, taking care to keep
my nag in good wind for a spirt, if it should be needed. I knew that for
three or four miles I could outrun him, if it should come to the worst,
though in the end a wolf can run down the fastest horse; and, as every
mile brought me nearer to the settlement, I did not care much about it.
Had it been winter, when the brutes are hard pressed for food, and the
deep snows are against a horse's speed, it would be a very different
thing. Hurrah! here we are! Hurrah! fat Tom! ahoy! a-ho-oy!"
THE SUPPER PARTY
Blithe, loud and hearty was the welcome of fat Tom, when by the clear
view halloa with which Harry drove up to the door at a spanking trot,
the horses stopping willingly at the high well-known stoop, he learned
who were these his nocturnal visitors.
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