you are right or
not."

"I suppose I may go now?"

"Where do you want to go?"

Ernest hesitated. This was a question which he could not at once answer.
To go on to Lee's Falls without the packet would do little good. Yet the
bank officers there ought to know that the bonds intended for them had
been stolen.

"I will go to Lee's Falls," he said.

"Not at present; I have other views for you." As he spoke the robber
turned his horse to the right. Wholly ignorant as to where he was to be
carried, Ernest sank back in his seat and resigned himself as well as he
could to the situation.

CHAPTER XVI

IN THE OUTLAW'S HOME

Where he was to be carried or what was to be his fate, Ernest could not
conjecture, nor did he speculate much. It was enough for him to know that
he was in the power of one of the notorious outlaws.

There was considerable difference between his appearance and that of the
man at his side. He was silent and depressed, while James Fox, for it was
he, seemed in excellent spirits. He turned to the boy with the remark:
"You don't say much."

"No, for it would be no good."

"Brace up, boy! There is no occasion to look as if you were going to a
funeral."

"Give me back the bonds and I will look lively enough."

"Come now, don't be foolish. These bonds don't belong to you."

"They were given into my care."

"Very well! You took as good care of them as you could."

"I shall be held responsible for them."

"No, you won't. I shall send your employers a letter letting them know
that you did the best you could to keep them out of my hands. But perhaps
they never heard of me," and he laughed.

"If your name is Fox they have heard of you."

"There is no need to beat about the bush. My name is Fox--James Fox."

"What made you take up such a business, Mr. Fox?" asked Ernest gravely.

"Well, I like that! You, a kid, undertake to lecture me."

"You were once a kid yourself."

The outlaw's face grew grave suddenly and his tone became thoughtful.

"Yes, I was a kid once. At sixteen--is that your age?"

"Yes."

"Well, at sixteen I was as innocent as you. I had a good mother then. If
she had lived perhaps I would have turned out different. Why, it seems a
great joke, doesn't it. I attended Sunday-school till I was fifteen. Are
you afraid that you will come to harm?"

Ernest looked intently in the brigand's face.

"No," he said, after a pause. "I think you won't do me any more harm. But