“Well, then, you come with me an’ perhaps you’ll learn something.”
Herbert obeyed. There was no question as to the seriousness of Sheldon’s intentions and there was no question about the deadly power of his loaded gun. He led the way slowly and cautiously down through the woods toward the house. Did he mean to corral Elizabeth also? Even in his terror and despair Herbert hoped that Elizabeth was not at home. Surely she could have no paper which belonged to these desperadoes!
Before they reached the edge of the woods where they could look out on the old house, two men met them. One was a shorter man than Sheldon with glowering eyes and a black beard which made him look like a pirate. Elizabeth would have recognized him as the “Black Smith” whom Colonel Thomas had described. The other was “Bud.”
“She’s went off,” Black Smith announced. “She’s far down the road.”
“Come on,” ordered Sheldon. “We’ll find that paper.”
He marched Herbert into the kitchen and made him open the doors of the cupboard. Then they went through the house, from cellar to attic. Confident that he would find nothing, Herbert searched thoroughly. Under Elizabeth’s bureau cover, he found the two warning papers. His eyes blazed.
“I never saw these. I should think you’d be ashamed of yourselves, big men trying to frighten a girl!”
“And a little mammy’s boy!” said Sheldon in an ugly tone.
Then Sheldon took from his pocket a stump of a lead pencil and another piece of paper and wrote another bulletin.
“She’ll know what to do when she finds that,” said he. “Now march!”
Herbert went out the front door and round the house into the woods as he was directed. At the wood’s edge, Black Smith fell in with them; the other remained behind.
“What are you going to do with my sister?” demanded Herbert.
“I don’t know and I don’t care,” answered Sheldon. “I want the paper, I don’t want your sister. Wishin’ she’d come an’ take care of you, are you, mammy’s boy?”
Herbert made no answer. Now Black Smith took a share in the conversation.
“The mountain people don’t stand for no nonsense,” said he. “They ain’t like the people of the plain. The people of the plain says one thing and means another, while the mountain people says one thing and sticks to it. The mountain people--”