about in the saddle.

"What's the trouble?" he asked.

"He don't want to go to the Old Forest," explained his companion,
and for the first time Barney saw one of them grin. It was not at
all a pleasant grin, nor reassuring.

"He don't, eh?" growled the other. "Well, he ain't goin', is he?
Who ever said he was?"

And then he, too, laughed.

"I'm going back the way I came," said Barney, starting around the
horse that blocked his way.

"No, you ain't," said the horseman. "You're goin' with us."

And Barney found himself gazing down the muzzle of one of the wicked
looking pistols.

For a moment he stood in silence, debating mentally the wisdom of
attempting to rush the fellow, and then, with a shake of his head,
he turned back up the trail between his captors.

"Yes," he said, "on second thought I have decided to go with you.
Your logic is most convincing."