"Up with your hands! Quick about it, too! You're the man we want!"
"Wal," replied the leader, surveying them with a grin, and paying no heed to their fierce commands, "now that you've got me, what are you going to do with me?"
If there ever were a set of dumbfounded men, they were the rustlers who closed about the leader and recognized him in the moonlight. The remarks that followed his identification were as ludicrous as they were vigourous.
The majority believed he had played a trick on them in pretending to be Mont Sterry, whom all were so anxious to bring down; but there were one or two who were not satisfied. They knew the voice of the inspector, which in no way resembled the gruff tones of Inman. Then, their leader was not given to practical jokes.
"What set you to hunting me so hard?" he asked, after the first flurry was over.
"We're looking for Mont Sterry."
"Wal, what made you take me for him? Do I look like him in the moonlight?"
"But you said you were, and fired at us," explained one.
"Fired at you? Said I was that chap? What in the mischief are you driving at?"
One, who suspected the truth, now interposed.