"He watered here."
Holmes spoke sharply. Abe's manner irritated him. "I don't see how you know."
"Because this is the only water for twenty miles going either way."
"But you said you thought there was a party of five or six."
"I know there are five or six."
"Where are the others, then, if this man was one of the party?"
"I don't know exactly where they are, but I can guess."
By this time Willard Holmes had come to see that to his companion there was a great deal more in the common-place incident than the surveyor chose to put into words. Abe, throwing away his cigarette and rolling another with his long-practiced fingers, seemed to be striving to arrive at some conclusion about something that to the engineer was all very much in the dark.
Aggravated by the reticence of his companion, Holmes burst forth with: "For heaven's sake! Abe, open up. What's on your mind? What's the matter anyway? What's all this about?"
Abe faced the engineer with a straight, hard look. "Don't you know what it's all about?"