'
'Where?' Roland informed him.
'Is it bleeding still?' He likewise informed him upon that point.
'I see you are not such a calf after all;' and then Roland heard him
mutter something about 'an acquisition to the band.' The words made
the matter clear enough now to our hero. This ruffian had not saved
him because he had shot Ham, but because he wanted an addition to his
force. Knowing that there was a price upon Roland's head, he believed
that he would find little difficulty in bending him to his infamous
ends.
'Here; let us take your hand. We shall never reach home at this
rate.' It was with a feeling akin to a shudder that Roland felt the
touch of his guide's hand; but the arrangement was successful, and
the two got over the ground at a rapid pace. Every maze and tree in
that dismal swamp seemed to be known to the guide; and he swerved to
right and left,--sometimes so changing his course that it seemed as
if he were retracing his steps--with such astonishing swiftness as to
completely bewilder our hero.
'I wonder,' observed Roland, 'that the law does not reach you here
by the aid of bloodhounds; they filled the wood with dogs this
morning for my benefit.
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