LITTLE SNAP'S TROUBLES INCREASE.
Though Little Snap was aware that he was running the gantlet of the
rifles of the bushbinders, he kept on undaunted, until he had reached
the side of his horse.
The next moment he sprang lightly into the saddle, and gathering up the
reins, shouted:
"Away, Jack! show them a light pair of heels!"
The faithful steed needed no urging to do this, and with the reports of
the baffled men's firearms and the cries of the startled Raggles family
ringing in his ears, the postboy of the Kanawha dashed furiously down
the path leading to the main road from Greenbrier to Six Roads.
Not a word escaped his tightly compressed lips, until the highway was
reached, when he patted his horse on the neck, saying, gently:
"Easy, now, Jack, old boy; the danger is over for the present. It was a
close call, but a miss is as good as a mile, though I don't care to go
through that experience again."
Slackening his gait to an easy canter, Jack bore his rider on without
further urging. The truth was, the postboy's mind was busy trying to
solve the subject of the meeting in the cave of the four unknown men. He
was also puzzled to understand the actions of the Raggles family. While
he could not believe that their story to get him into the cave had been
a hoax, he was unable to understand their reappearance upon the scene.
The postboy was still trying to solve these problems, when he reached a
small town called by the singular name of Daring's Diamond.
He found the postmaster, Mr. Anderson, impatiently awaiting his
appearance.
"Late again," greeted the official, in a disagreeable tone.
"I could not very well help it," replied Little Snap, handing him the
mail pouch.
"That is what you say every time. You are an hour overdue. Mr. Meiggs,
who has just gone out, has been talking pretty loud about you. If I were
in your place, I would not let this happen again. People who are having
mail want it on time. It may not make any difference to the Blazed Acre
cattle, but it does to civilized people, I have noticed."
It wasn't so much what the postmaster said as the way in which he said
it that nettled Little Snap, though he made no reply. This Mr. Meiggs
referred to was one of the postboy's bondsmen.
"I suppose you know Dan Shag has gone up to see Jason Warfield about the
Hollow Tree mail?" said the postmaster, as he handed over the sack. "Of
course you know; what a fool I am! He must have passed you 'tween here
and the Tree."
To this Little Snap made no reply. He knew Anderson was saying these
things to draw him out. The postmaster, for some unknown reason, had
never acted friendly toward him.
He never could understand why.
It was never Little Snap's practice to hold much conversation with those
he met on his route, and on this occasion he felt less like talking than
common.
He was due at Union Six Roads, the end of his route, at eight o'clock,
and it was already past that hour, it having been sunset at the time of
his escape from his enemies at the cave.
[Illustration:
"The reports of the outlaws' firearms rang out sharply on the silence
of the wild woods as Little Snap bounded toward Jack."
]
Thus he took the mail pouch from Mr. Anderson's hands, and throwing it
on its accustomed hook, sprang into his seat before that worthy could
realize he was leaving.
"Hold up a minnit!" he exclaimed, as the postboy dashed away, but not
loud enough for him to hear. "Go it!" muttered the other, "I shan't
forget it in my report. I reckon you'll wish you hadn't been in so much
of a hurry when you come to meet old Warfield."
Little thinking of what was in store for him at his home town, the
postboy urged Jack on at greater speed than common, until at last he
dashed up in front of the Six Roads post office, kept by John Rimmon,
who also had a small trade in groceries.
The postmaster met him at the door, with a troubled look upon his
features.
"What in the world have you been doing all this time, Dix Lewis? Hold
on! don't dismount. Jason Warfield left word here for me to tell you to
come right up to his house the minute you got in. He wants to see you on
matters of vital importance. Them's just his words."
"Well, I will run up and see just as soon as I have put Jack in the
stable."
"But he said you mustn't stop for that. He said for you to be sure and
come the minute you got here. By his looks and actions, it must be
something of very great importance."
The Honorable Jason Warfield, as that rather pompous gentleman desired
to be known, was considered one of the richest men in Monroe County. In
some way, not easily understood by the easy-going inhabitants of Six
Roads, a large proportion of the property in town was in his name, and
it was doggedly repeated that "he had a mortgage on the rest."
Be that as it may, no move of any importance was made without consulting
him, and his sanction to any undertaking was deemed sufficient to insure
its success. Of course, such a man had his enemies, but as a rule he was
liked.
His was the first name on the Postboy of the Kanawha's bond, and it was
generally supposed that he had been principally instrumental in securing
Little Snap his situation.
It was no wonder then that the postmaster looked surprised when our hero
said that he was going to care for his horse before he visited Mr.
Warfield.
"I wouldn't take any such chances," declared the worthy minion of the
government, with an ominous shake of his grizzled locks.
Little Snap's home was but a short distance from the post office, so he
was quickly there, to be met at the door by his mother and two sisters,
both of the latter being younger than he, the three looking very
anxious.
"Where have you been, my son?" asked his mother. "We have been so
worried about you. And Mr. Warfield has been here, acting very much put
out. He wants you to come up to his house as soon as possible. Something
terrible has happened, I know."
"Nothing to be alarmed about, mother. But if Bess will take care of
Jack, I will go right up to Mr. Warfield's, though I cannot imagine what
he is so anxious to see me for."
"He is terribly excited about something. I would go at once, if I were
you, and I will have your supper warm for you when you get back."
"Is father at home?" asked Little Snap.
"No; I have not seen him to-day. He stays away more than ever of late.
Why did you ask?"
"Oh, nothing. Give Jack a good supper, Bess, and see that he is
comfortable for the night. There, mother, don't be worried any more. I
won't be gone long this time."
It was nothing unusual, as Mrs. Lewis had inferred, for John Lewis, our
hero's father, to be away from home. In fact, it was very seldom he was
there, and when he was he hardly ever did any work or business. He was a
man of a few words and very peculiar habits. His neglect of his family
had made it necessary that Dix do something for their support.
Kissing his mother, as was his practice when leaving home, Little Snap
turned away to start on his visit to Mr. Warfield's, when he saw a party
of men approaching the house.
"Why, it's Mr. Warfield in front!" exclaimed his mother. "He got
impatient waiting for you. And there is Mr. Meiggs and Daniel Shag, of
Hollow Tree, and—and Mr. Bardy, the sheriff. Oh, Dix! what does it
mean?"
"Nothing to be alarmed over, I am sure, mother, so be calm."
In a louder tone of voice, he greeted the newcomers, saying:
"Good-evening, gentlemen. I was starting to come up to your house, Mr.
Warfield."
"Was that the direction I left at the post office for you to follow,
young man?" demanded Mr. Warfield, sternly.
"No, sir; but Jack was so tired that I thought——"
"So you put more importance upon the condition of your horse than you do
the affairs of Uncle Sam?"
"Not exactly that; but I did not know you wished to see me upon
government matters. I——"
"It seems to me, young man, that you should have been very anxious to
see me, if I was not to see you, after what has happened to-day. Mr.
Shag was so much concerned about it that he rode up here posthaste to
let me know. He tells me you have lost the Hollow Tree packet of mail."
"Mr. Shag said it was missing, sir, when I got to his office; but I
trust you do not think it any of my fault. Mr. Belmont——"
"The horse does not seem very badly winded," broke in Sheriff Brady, who
had approached Jack, and was running his hand over the creature's body.
"Ha! Mr. Warfield, I hardly think we shall have to look much farther for
the missing mail. Here it is, fast enough."
Little Snap uttered a low exclamation of astonishment, as he saw the
sheriff take from the little pouch he had fastened to the saddle for his
convenience in carrying small articles to and fro on his trips, the
missing package of mail matter!
All feelings imaginable were depicted upon the countenances of the
little group surrounding the postboy.