"We never dreamed o' leavin' you.

Now, Paul, we've got to git through this village somehow or other.

Lucky it's purty dark, an' you'll have to do your best to walk an' look like a Red.
Maybe we kin git fur enough to make a good run fur it, and then, with the woods an' the night helpin' us, we may give them the slip.

Here, take this." He pressed something cold and hard into Paul's hand, and Paul slipped the pistol into his belt, standing erect and feeling himself much of a man.
"It's time to be goin'," said Shif'less Sol.
"I'm ready," said Paul.
But neither took more than a single step forward, stopping together as they heard a light noise at the door.
"Thunder an' lightnin'!" said Shif'less Sol, under his breath.

"Somebody's suspectin'." "It looks like it," breathed Paul.
"Lay down on the skins and pretend to be asleep," said Shif'less Sol.
Paul lay down on the couch at once, in the attitude of one who slumbers, and closed his eyes--all but a little.