presently.

"Is there any place on the way where I can get to stay all night?"

"You can stay all night with the Red Fox on top of the mountain."

"The Red Fox," repeated Hale.

"Yes, he lives right on top of the mountain. You can't miss his
house."

"Oh, yes, I remember him. I saw him talking to one of the Falins
in town to-day, behind the barn, when I went to get my horse."

"You--seed--him--a-talkin'--to a Falin AFORE the trouble come up?"
the girl asked slowly and with such significance that Hale turned
to look at her. He felt straightway that he ought not to have said
that, and the day was to come when he would remember it to his
cost. He knew how foolish it was for the stranger to show sympathy
with, or interest in, one faction or another in a mountain feud,
but to give any kind of information of one to the other--that was
unwise indeed. Ahead of them now, a little stream ran from a
ravine across the road. Beyond was a cabin; in the doorway were
several faces, and sitting on a horse at the gate was young Dave
Tolliver.

"Well, I git down here," said the girl, and before his mule
stopped she slid from behind him and made for the gate without a
word of thanks or good-by.