"Yas; left ther hull craowd in ther lurch. They'd lynch him if they could git their paws onter him."
"How did he happen to skip?"
"Waal, we done a purty good business last night at Ivervale, an' the gang was shoutin' fer some dust, yeou bet. The ghost ain't walked for three weeks, an' we wanted some money to git some shirts an' collars an' things done up clean. Haley promised to cough when we got to Tornton. We all went on board the train, s'posin' he was along with the tickets. When the train started, he dropped off. That's abaout all there is to it, except me an' Hans had some stuff soaked, an' we didn't git chucked off at a little side deepoe, same's the rest of the gang did."
"Then the show is completely stranded?"
"Jest that."
"What's the name of the place?"
"Ballardvale, I believe."
"Hotel there?"
"Dunno. We didn't stop to see."
"Well, that was a miserable trick for Haley to play, but I guess most of the managers of traveling companies play it sometimes. Why did you chaps come here?"