"Say what you have to say, my man. I am listening."
"Between you and me I'm an officer. I'm looking for some parties that have been cutting up didoes down in these parts of late. When I saw your party I thought you were the lawbreakers, so I up and let go. I saw that there were too many for me and it was the only chance I had to—-"
"But surely you didn't have to kill us."
"I didn't kill you, did I?"
"True; true."
"I was telling you, I thought you were they and I let go a few shots, just as a tickler. You see, I could have picked you off one at a time just as easy as eating pie. I'm a dead shot, I am."
"Then you only sought to drive us off?" questioned the professor.
"Yes, that's it. You're a wise old party. They're a bad lot, you know."
"But what about this assault on my boys?" demanded the professor.
"Same thing. I thought they were them."