"
"Do you know, Sebastian?" the old man asked his son.
"Yes, they turned off to the right two miles further on."
"Look here, boy," Dominique said, "we were promised twenty dollars
if we took the message straight. Now, if you will go with us and
find out, we will give you five of them. As we are strangers to the
people here, they might not answer our questions; but if you go and
say that you have to carry the message, no doubt they will tell you
which way they have gone."
The lad jumped up.
"I will go with you," he said; "but perhaps when we get there you
will not give me the money."
"Look here," Dominique said, taking three dollars from his pocket.
"I will leave these with your father, and will hand you the other
two as soon as we get within sight of the place where they are."
The lad was quite satisfied. Five dollars was more than he could
earn by two months' work. As soon as they went out, Dominique
whispered to one of the boatmen to go back and tell Frank what had
taken place, and to beg him to follow at some distance behind.
Whenever they took a fresh turning, one of the boatmen would always
be left until he came up.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393