"What brings the parson hereaways in these times?" he asked.
"What parson?" I asked.
"The man they call Doctor Blair."
"Great God!" I cried, "what about him?"
"He was in Stafford county when I left, hunting for schoolmasters. Ay,
and he had a girl with him."
I sat upright with a start. "Where is he now?" I asked.
"I saw him last at Middleton's Ford. I think he was going down the
river. I warned him this was no place for parsons and women, but he
just laughed at me. It's time he was back in the Tidewater."
So long as they were homeward-bound I did not care; but it gave me a
queer fluttering of the heart to think that Elspeth but yesterday
should have been near this perilous Border. I soon fell asleep, for I
was mighty tired, but I dreamed evilly. I seemed to see Doctor Blair
hunted by Cherokees, with his coat-tails flying and his wig blown away,
and what vexed me was that I could not find Elspeth anywhere in the
landscape.
CHAPTER XVIII.
OUR ADVENTURE RECEIVES A RECRUIT.
At earliest light, with the dew heavy on the willows and the river line
a coil of mist, Shalah woke me for the road. We breakfasted off fried
bacon, some of which I saved for the journey, for the Indian was
content with one meal a day.
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