It was well on towards midnight when Chesbrook was reached. It was only a small village, with a small square building that went by the name of hotel. Here the man put up for the night, and Mark did the same, the boy paying "four shillings"--fifty cents--for his bed and breakfast in the morning. By ten o'clock the man with the horses had transacted his business at the village and he and Mark began their journey further westward. It was a clear day and a night's rest had put the boy in fine condition physically, although he was still worried, fearing that his step-father might be on his track. Towards the middle of the afternoon Mark and Jed Dickson--such was the man's name--came to a fork in the road. "Which is the right road?" questioned the boy, as he drew rein. "I allow as how the road to the right is right," answered Jed Dickson. They turned in that direction, but scarcely had they covered half a mile when they saw that the road was very poor and that there had been no traveling upon it for several days. "This looks like a side road to me," observed Mark. "Reckon you're correct," answered the man. He scratched his head. "Ain't nothin' to do but to go back." "Wait, I hear talking!" went on Mark. "Somebody must be coming. Perhaps we can find out which way to go." They waited and heard two persons coming along, each on horseback. One was a burly fellow of fifty, with a heavy beard, and the other a youth of Mark's age, dressed in a sailor suit. "Say, messmate, it looks to me like we were on the wrong tack," came from the sailor boy, as he drew rein just around a bend from where Mark and Jed Dickson were waiting. "Oh, we're all right," came from the burly man. "By the way, how much money did you say you had with you?" he continued. "One hundred and forty dollars--and I don't want to lose it, either." "Let me carry it for you, lad." "No, I'll carry it myself. And I reckon I'll go back," went on the sailor boy. "You'll hand that money over to me," cried the burly man. "What, would you rob me?" gasped the youth. "I want that money, and I am bound to have it," came coolly from the burly individual. "We are alone out here, so it won't help you to make a fuss about it." "You brought me here to rob me!" cried the sailor boy. "I thought something was wrong. Well, you ain't going to rob me just yet. Get up there!" The last words to his horse. "Stop!" roared the burly man, and urging his own steed forward he caught the other horse. "That money, I say, or I'll----" "Hi! leave him alone!" cried Mark, riding forward. "Leave him alone, you villain!" "We don't allow no highway robbery in these parts," sang out Jed Dickson. Both came up alongside of the burly fellow, who drew back in commingled alarm and disgust. "Hullo--friends!" sang out the sailor boy, joyfully. "Here's luck for me sure!" "And no luck for me!" growled the burly man, and urging his steed around, he disappeared back of some bushes and was gone.