"Mina," he said, after a brief pause, "how far does your mother live from here?"
"Two miles."
"Then if Dirck does not come back by noon I should take Mina and go there if I were you. Dirck will know where to look for you if he comes back and finds that you are not here."
"Yaas."
"You 'll go, will you?" said Robert eagerly.
"Yaas."
"Don't wait too long. You know the way through the woods, and you would do better to take that path than to follow the road. I hope everything will come out all right. I must go on now."
Robert lifted the little Mina gently from her seat on his saddle, dropped her to the ground, and then with a wave of his hand started swiftly down the road. When he glanced behind him he could see that Dirck's wife and child were still standing where he had left them, and there was a fear in his heart that they would not do as he had bidden them. What they were likely to suffer if they were left alone and unprotected he did not dare to dwell upon. Even Hannah and her mother, bolder spirits far, were not safe, and their natural defenders had hastened to their aid
