“But we saw you run away from the store and come down here, didn’t we, Jackson?”
“We certainly did,” returned the constable, with a grave shake of his head.
“You saw me?” gasped Matt, starting back.
“Exactly,” said Isaac Marvelling. “I heard you run out of the yard behind the store right after I had called in Jackson to tell him about the robbery. We both saw you jump the fence and skip off in this direction.”
“You might as well own up to what you have done,” added the constable. “It won’t do you any good to deny it.”
For the moment Matt did not reply to this. He was thinking of what had occurred at the bridge just before the two men had reached it. Could it be possible that the dark object which had left the 159 place when he had arrived was the thief, rooted out of what he had considered a safe hiding-place?
“How near were you to me when you saw me first?” he asked of Marvelling.
“We were near enough.”
“Did you see my face?”
“Never mind if we did or not.”