"That's what your man Patches said the fellow was. Miss Reid told me his name was Joe—Joe something."
Phil was not laughing now. The fun of the situation had vanished.
"Was it Yavapai Joe?" he demanded.
"Yes, that was it. I am quite sure that was the name. He belongs at Tailend Mountain, I think Miss Reid said; you have such curious names in this country."
"And Patches went away with him, you say?"
"Yes, the fellow seemed to have been hiding in the bushes when we discovered him, and when Miss Reid asked what he was doing there your man said that he had come to see him about something. They went away together, I believe."
As soon as he could escape from the professor, Phil went straight to Patches, who was in his room, reading. The man looked up with a welcoming smile as Phil entered, but as he saw the foreman's face his smile vanished quickly, and he laid aside his book.
"Patches," said Phil abruptly, "what's this talk of the professor's about you and Yavapai Joe?"
"I don't know what the professor is talking," Patches replied coldly, as though he did not exactly like the tone of Phil's question.
"He says that Joe was sneaking about in the brush over on the ridge wanting to see you about something," returned Phil.