The head of the hide-out dropped to his breast; then he muttered, half
to himself:
"I dassent--ain't nobody to look arter her but me; 'taint much, but
it's all she's got."
Thayor turned quickly. "You mean your little girl? I've thought of
that; she shall join you whenever you're safe." Then he added in
a lower tone--so low that only Dinsmore heard: "Your wife was in
Montreal, remember, when you last heard from her, and now that
Bergstein's dead she may get free."
The owl-like eyes stared at the slowly dying fire; hot tears trickled
over the cavernous sockets and stopped in the unkempt beard. Before he
could answer there came a voice behind him:
"Didn't I tell ye so, son--didn't I tell ye ye could trust him?"
"I hope so, Hite," returned Thayor--"and you heard what I said about
his getting to Canada, didn't you?"
"Yes, I heard ye, Mr. Thayor." "And are you willing?"
"Yes."
Thayor paused a moment, then he said thoughtfully: "There is only one
thing that worries me and that is how to get him clear of the woods
and across the line. Somebody must help. The question is now whom can
we trust?"
"That needn't worry ye a mite," answered the old man in a decided
tone. "He's got all the help he wants."
Thayor looked up. "Who?" he asked in some surprise.
"Me and the old dog. We'll git him thar."
THE END
End of Project Gutenberg's The Lady of Big Shanty, by Frank Berkeley Smith