Presently there came to them the rattling of a motor without,
followed by the voices of men in the house. For an
hour, half asphyxiated by the closeness of the attic, they waited,
and then again they heard the sound of the running engine,
diminishing as the machine drew away.
Shortly after, Mrs. Shorter's voice rose to them from below:
"You ken come down now," she said, "they've gone."
When they had descended she led them to the kitchen.
"I got a bite to eat ready for you while they was here," she
explained. "When you've done you ken hide in the barn 'til
dark, an' after that I'll have my ol' man take you 'cross to
Dodson, that's a junction, an' you'd aughter be able to git
away easy enough from there. I told 'em you started for
Olathe--there's where they've gone with the two tramps.
"My, but I did have a time of it! I ain't much good at
story-tellin' but I reckon I told more stories this arternoon
than I ever tole before in all my life. I told 'em that they was
two of you, an' that the biggest one hed red hair, an' the little
one was all pock-marked. Then they said you prob'ly wasn't
the man at all, an' my! how they did swear at them two
tramps fer gettin' 'em way out here on a wild-goose chase; but
they're goin' to look fer you jes' the same in Olathe, only they
won't find you there," and she laughed, a bit nervously
though.
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