Bart Stirling's Road to Success; Or, The Young Express AgentChapman, Allen
General
Bart Stirling's Road to Success; Or, The Young Express Agent
Chapman, Allen
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Express service -- Juvenile fiction; Railroads -- Juvenile fiction
What had come about was quite natural and ordinary: the Tollivers were
anxious to get further away from the scene of their recent crime, to a
safer and more obscure haunt than the open camp in the woods.
They dared not take the journey in the day time, as they did not wish to
be seen by anyone and Bart coming along, they had caught at the idea of
sending him on with the wagon and its load.
If Bart got through in safety, they could assume that the hunt for the
missing trunk was not very active, or had been started in some other
direction.
Bart had comprehended that they could take a short cut to the old mill.
He had actually laughed to himself at the ease with which he had
obtained possession of the trunk, until they had mentioned that ominous
name: Lem Wacker.
"They are going to wait for Wacker!" murmured Bart, as he urged on the
horse. "That means that they expect him soon, for they calculate on
being at the old mill as soon as I can make it by road. When he does
come, and they tell him about me, he's sure to guess the truth. Then
it's three to one--get up!"
Bart did not allow the horse to lag, but his best pace was a poor
shambling trot. All the time Bart thought deeply and practically.
"I have decided," he spoke definitely after a quarter of an hour. "I
shall turn to my left the first road I come to. The B. & M. does not
touch short of eight miles from here, but somewhere to the southeast is
Clyde Station. Once there, I'll risk the rest."
The road was not an easy one. It was not very smooth, and grew more
stony and rutty as he proceeded, and there was a sharp climb for the
horse as they reached a hilly landscape.
Bart halted finally. A road branched to the left. It did not look very
inviting, nor did it seem to be much in use, but as it led away from the
main highway, it broke the trail, and without hesitation he turned the
horse's head in the direction of Clyde Station.
The country was open here, all rocks, gullies and pits. He was surprised
to observe how little distance he had really put between himself and the
Tolliver camp as the road wound out along the crest of a hill.
He jumped out to lighten the load and coax up the horse. Then he stood
stock-still, straining his eyes across the valley.
"I declare!" said Bart in a tone of profound concern, "I got away just
in time, but if that is Lem Wacker, he has appeared on the scene just
ten minutes too soon to suit me."
Over at the break in the woods a man had appeared from the direction of
Millville. He was waving a hand, and then placing it to his mouth as
though hailing someone, probably the Tollivers at the camp.
Then he turned straight around. If Bart could read anything at that
distance, he could certainly trace that the man was looking fixedly at
the red wagon, and the white horse, and himself.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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