" They must have thought we had turned
off into some other road. I waited a while longer to let our
friend's get a little nearer home and further away from us, and then
took the road again toward Water Gap.
We reached Water Gap at midnight, had some supper and fed the horse.
We rested awhile, and then drove leisurely on nine miles further,
where we waited till daylight and crossed the river. We were in no
great hurry now; we were comparatively safe from pursuit. We soon
came to a public house, where we stopped and put out the horse,
intending to take breakfast. While I was inquiring of the landlord
if there was a justice of the peace in the neighborhood, the
landlord's wife had elicited from Sarah the fact of our elopement,
who she was, who her folks were, and so on. The well-meaning
landlady advised Sarah to go back home and get her parents consent
before she married. Sarah suggested that the very impossibility of
getting such consent was the reason for her running away; nor did it
appear how she was to go back home alone even if she desired to. We
saw that we could get no help there, so I countermanded my order for
breakfast, offering at the same time to pay for it as if we had
eaten it, ordered out my horse and drove on. After riding some ten
miles we arrived at another public house on the road, and as the
landlord come out to the door I immediately asked him where I could
find a justice of the peace? He laughed, for he at once comprehended
the whole situation, and said:
"Well, well! I am an old offender myself; I ran away with my wife;
there is a justice of the peace two miles from here, and if you'll
come in I'll have him here within an hour.
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