"Dunno the man you are talking about."
"Ye can't come it thet way. Didn't I hear ye talkin' it over down ter Casey's Forks only yesterday? Come, out with the truth, or take the consequences!" and to scare the horse thief Ike Watson tapped his gun barrel suggestively.
"Must be some mistake. We wasn't near Casey's Fork in a month. Eh, Lou?"
"Nixy."
"Ye tell it so smooth I would most believe ye, if I hadn't follered ye up," growled Watson. "But we know ye air in the deal ag'in Barnaby Winthrop, an' I am hyer ter help his nevvy thar, Allen Winthrop. So ye hed better ease yer mind ter onct. Understand?"
The two men turned their attention to Allen curiously. They wished to hold a consultation, but Watson would not permit it.
At that moment Noel Urner came forward, having succeeded in tying all of the horses in a little grove not far distant.
He eyed both of the prisoners keenly, and then gave a start.
"I saw that man in San Francisco!" he ejaculated, pointing to Roe Bluckburn. "He was hanging around the very hotel at which Mr. Barnaby Winthrop stopped."
"It ain't so," growled Bluckburn, but his face proclaimed that Noel Urner had spoken the truth.