"Don't trust him, Wilder," interposed the owner of the Three Stars, "When a man is so willing to turn on his pals, there's something wrong."
"See here, Jim Snider, you keep out of this. I'm talking to Mr. Wilder, not to you. He's square. If it was only you, all your ponies couldn't drag a word out of me!" snapped Lawrence.
This retort angered the owner of the Three Stars, but before he could say anything the proprietor of the Half-Moon exclaimed:
"If you can give me any reason why I should believe you, Lawrence, do so."
"That's easy," returned the captive, and without wasting words, he related the incidents of the pursuit of the three boys, Megget's signals, the order to set the fire and his own action that alone had saved the herd at the pool from destruction.
In silence, now looking at one another in amazement and then at the speaker, the cowboys listened.
"That's a likely story, throwing your tobacco away," sneered Snider.
"I believe it," announced Larry calmly. "The only way I knew it was a man I'd discovered was because I heard him say twice I've found it.'"
This confirmation of his words from the very one who had captured him gave Lawrence heart, and quick to see the advantage it gave him, he pressed it, saying:
"There, you see, I'm telling you straight. And everything else
I've said is just as true."