Flushing at the taunt of cowardice, Tom bit his lips that he might
not say anything he should regret.
"You ought to know, Horace, that neither Larry nor I are afraid,"
he responded. "I was only thinking about your mother. We promised
her we would be back by to-morrow night. The idea of our going in
pursuit of Megget by ourselves is foolish. The thing to do is to
make sure this trail leads into the mountains and then go and try
to find your father and his men."
"Now you're talking sense," interrupted Ned.
"To find them will certainly take us longer than until to-morrow
night. In order that Mrs. Wilder need not worry, we must let her
know of the change in our plans."
"That's so," agreed Larry. "Still there is no reason for our all
going back; one is enough. Let's draw lots to see who it shall be."
"Not much," returned Horace. "So long as father and Bill are away,
I am in charge of the Half-Moon. The rest of you must do as I say.
Ned is the one to go back!"
"But you boys don't know anything about the trails," protested the
man. "You will get lost."
"We certainly can follow this one," retorted Horace hotly. "And we
can always find our way back. Just tell mother we shall join
father."
In vain the driver of the grub wagon endeavored to dissuade the
lads, but the thought of taking part in the pursuit of the raiders,
after all, made them deaf to all his arguments, and at last Horace
exclaimed impatiently:
"You are only delaying us, Ned.
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