"Why--no."
"Where is it?"
"At Granny's. By the way, here's the letter from the school."
He took the letter from an inside pocket and handed it over. Bill Ellis
accepted it, but it seemed unimportant.
"If you won't run," he said, "get to Granny's and get your gun while
darkness lasts. Don't go anywhere again without it."
"But--"
"Do as I say and--" there was a definite note of fear in Bill Ellis'
voice--"don't tell anybody I told you."
He turned and walked swiftly away, as though the peddler had suddenly
become an outcast or tainted being with whom he must not have further
contact. Jeff stood a moment, completely bewildered. Why this unexpected
warning? What had come into the hills since he'd left for Ackerton? Why
was Bill Ellis afraid?