“He won’t be able to walk for a week!” was the reply.
“Say,” Jimmie said to Ben in a moment, as they approached the fire, “did you see that pirate with the package when you went back after the prisoners?”
“Of course, I saw him!” answered Ben.
“What was he talking about?”
“I don’t know what he was trying to say,” replied Ben, “but I got the impression that before long he would be umpiring a fight between a green rattlesnake and a pink lion with a red tail.”
“It’s a wonder this Dick Sheman left him there alone with all that whiskey,” commented Jimmie. “If he had my disposition, he’d set fire to the whole bunch of it!”
“Sherman won him over to the side of law and order,” laughed Ben, “by promising him immunity and a position in the government service. He’ll be there when they came back for the whiskey, all right. Sherman seemed to know something about the fellow. At least, he told me that Crooked Terry, as they call him, has been in crooked games all his life. He told me, too, that the old fellow knows this country better than any person in the world. He’s got a map of it in his head.”
“That’s just what I wanted to know!” cried Jimmie. “If you don’t mind, Ben,” he added with a sly wink, “we’ll go up there to-night and get a copy of that map! I’ll just bet you,” he went on, “that our little scrap with the smugglers will get us somewhere in the game we’re playing, after all! What do you think about it?”
“That seems to me to be the very thing to do!” replied Ben. “If Crooked Terry knows all about this country, he’s the man we’ve got to do business with. If we find Colleton, we’ve got to know where to look!”