"They didn't bite," growled Shifty, as he gulped down his food. "How many times have I got to tell ye that?"
"But didn't ye see anybody?" insisted Bill. "Did no one come near the place where we ordered the money to be left?"
"Come? No. But I kept well out of sight, an' saw several d— Yellow-legs in the distance. They were on the lookout, but I kept close. They thought somebody'd be squattin' like a fool by the rock, with folded hands, an' meek eyes, waitin' fer the money. But Shifty knows a thing or two. Good Lord! How my fingers itched and quivered to draw a bead on their numbskulls."
"Oh, well, Nick," Bill replied, "don't feel too bad about it. We've got the kid, an' as that old cuss Si didn't fork out, but set those hounds of hell on us, it'll be some consolation to make 'im squirm. But I'd like to see his face when he gits the news of what has happened to his little tootsy-wootsie boy."
"Where is the kid, anyway?" questioned Nick. "I halted at Old Meg's, an' she told me the news."
"Ha, ha," and Bill laughed outright. "We've got 'im cinched all right. He's gone down to the Big Lakes. They'll keep 'im until called fer."
"An' ye sent the gal along to look after 'im, eh?"
"Sartin. I didn't want her pryin' around. She's been somewhat suspicious of me lately, so I sent her to her own people with the two Injuns who came spyin' upon Hishu."
"Oh, I don't mean your squaw, Bill. But the gal over yon."