nquired Rodney.

"Oh, I hearn tell that there was some of Jeff Thompson's men riding
through the kentry looking for a hoss-thief, and I knowed the hoss when
I seen him. But ye say this aint the thief," answered the native, with
an inquiring glance at Mr. Westall.

"That was what I said," replied the Emergency man. "He is a friend of
ours, belongs to Price, and you want to take a good look at him and the
horse too, so that you will know them again if you happen to meet them
anywhere on the road."

And then Mr. Westall went on to tell who Tom Percival was and where he
lived, not forgetting to lay a good deal of stress on the statement that
he was not only a strong Union man, but a horse-thief as well. This made
Rodney angry, but of course he couldn't help himself.

"You want to keep a bright lookout for a young fellow in his stocking
feet, riding a bareback roan colt," said the Emergency man, in
conclusion. "If you fall in with such a chap, you will make something by
bringing him to Pilot Knob settlement and asking for Mr. Westall."

"I'll keep them words in mind," replied the native, urging the mule
forward by digging him in the ribs with his boot heels.

"You'll have to look in the woods for him," observed the man Harvey. "It
isn't at all likely that he will keep the road in daylight when he
hasn't a thing to defend himself with."

"I aint thinking about that any more'n I am about him having no boots
on," said the Missourian, looking back over his shoulder. "There's
plenty of mean folks in this kentry that'll give him we'pons and clothes
for the asking. If I can't get the drop on to him, I won't say a word to
him."

"This is just what I was afraid of," Rodney remarked, when the man had
passed out of hearing. "Every one who meets me on the road will look
upon me with suspicion, and perhaps I had better take to the woods
myself."

"Don't think of it," answered Mr. Westall, hastily. "You would be sure
to lose your way and stand a fine chance of being bushwhacked besides.
You will find that the boldest course is the best; and that's dangerous
enough, goodness knows," he added, in an undertone.

When the party halted for dinner the scene we have just described was
re-enacted. Before any of them had a chance to say a word the planter at
whose gate they stopped began abusing Rodney in the strongest language
he could command; and he was such a rapid talker that he succeeded in
saying a good many harsh things before