The men replied in the negative.
"Then she couldn't have been the party wanted. The one we're after certainly had a big bundle."
"But, Mr. Crow, isn't it possible that these men saw her after she left the basket at—" began the Presbyterian minister.
"That ain't the way I deduce it," observed the town detective tartly. "In the first place, she wouldn't 'a' been standin' 'round like that if the job was over, would she? Wouldn't she 'a' been streakin' out fer home? 'Course she would."
"She may have paused near the church to see whether you took the child in," persisted the divine.
"But she couldn't have saw my porch from the back end of the church."
"Nobody said she was standing back of the church," said the lineman.
"What's that? You don't mean it?" cried Anderson, pulling out of a difficulty bravely. "That makes all the difference in the world. Why didn't you say she was in front of the church? Cain't you see we've wasted time here jest because you didn't have sense 'nough to—"
"Anybody ought to know it 'thout being told, you old Rube," growled the lineman, who was from Boggs City.
"Here, now, sir, that will do you! I won't 'low no man to—"