d that Palmer would go a little ways and await
them.

When Jake resumed the journey he drove the team somewhat faster,
prompted to do so by the anxiety of the good woman, who sat by his side
straining her eyes, gazing ahead along the white, dusty way. The object
she looked for did not come into sight.

The shadows of night began to fall. Jake had the team going at a faster
pace than the big wagon had ever sped previously. All eyes looked down
the pike ahead of the team; all expected every minute to see Palmer on
the road ahead of them.

Gideon broke the painful silence: "Whoa! Whoa! Jake, pull the horses
up." Jake obeyed. All turned towards Gideon. "No man could keep ahead of
the team the rate we have been going. He couldn't keep ahead of us even
if he had run, let alone walked. If Palmer hasn't caught onto someone
who is traveling in a buggy or other light vehicle, he has laid down by
the roadside and fallen asleep and failed to hear us go by. I will go
back and look for him; it's only two miles further to town, you all go
on."

All hesitated. Jake then proposed that the wagon halt where it was and
all go back seeking Palmer. Jake, Alfred and Bedford Tom retracing their
steps, looking on each side of the road as they walked. Every person
they met was questioned, but none had noticed a man answering Palmer's
description. Inquiry was made at every farm house.

Finally a traveler on horseback informed the searchers that a man
answering the description of Palmer was seated on the driver's seat of
the stage coach going west.

The three retraced their steps and gave Gideon and the wife the
information gained. Driving into Hancock, Gideon, who was best informed
as to the lines of travel, decided he would take the train for
Cumberland and ascertain there as to whether Palmer had been a passenger
on the stage coach. Later in the evening news came that a stranger had
been discovered by the roadside dead. To attempt to describe the misery
of the wife would be impossible, and to aggravate the situation, to
still more deeply aggrieve the trouble laden woman, a letter came with
the news that one of their children was very ill at home.

Jake and Alfred mounted the horses and rode to the point where the dead
man was found. They arrived previous to the coroner; the body had not
been removed. It was a lonely place on the pike. Two or three country
folk stood near the fence, recounting for the tenth time the
circumstances attend