"Your grammar is shocking, my man, but what you say is deserving of careful consideration. You say you took us to be bad men?"
"Sure I did."
"Who did you think we were?"
"Tuck O'Connor and his crowd."
"Who are they?"
"Well, you see, they do some smuggling over the Rio Grande. Then again, they are up to a few other tricks that the public hasn't got on to yet. What I want to do is to get away from here, quiet-like, so the youngsters won't get wise in time to cut up. Of course I ain't afraid of them. I don't want to hurt them, you see."
"I see," observed the professor dryly.
"I've got to get away to-night. If I'm held till morning I'll have to take you all in. You'll all have to go back with me to State Line and you'll be locked up for interfering with an officer."
"How comes it that you feared we were Rangers then, if this be true?"
"Aw, I was jest bluffing. I wanted the youngsters to give theirselves away, you see."