Gwinne eyed his captive benevolently.
“Good land of Goshen, son—what on earth has all this got to do with the price of hemp?”
“Everything to do with it. Demand for hemp is going to fluctuate violently if I can swing the deal I have in mind,” replied Johnny, with spirit. “I was just thinking about two traitors I know.”
In a prolonged silence Mr. Gwinne rumpled his beard and refilled his pipe.
“The two Garfield men and the other three did not seem to be agreeing very well,” he said at last. “Lull—he’s the one who arrested you—he went back to Garfield last night. Couldn’t sleep, he said, and they’d be wanting to know in Garfield. The other one, See, the least one, he was round here soon this morning wanting to talk it up with you. He was real feverish about the quarantine.”
Johnny cocked his head impishly and looked sidelong at the jailer.
“Just what was the big idea for sending one man to arrest me?”
“They didn’t say.”
“And why were they all crosswise with each other, like jackstraws?”
“They didn’t tell me that either.”