“But how did Philip know I was going to that grove?” demanded George, growing more and more bewildered.
“What’s the use of me tellin’ you when you’ll get mad?” asked Springer in reply. “The under-standin’ atween us, was, that arter we had drove off your three hundred head of stock, we was to come over agin, in a week or two, an’ we would find a thousand more head whar we could get ‘em easy.”
“Who was going to put them where you could get them easy?”
“If I tell you, you’ll get mad at me. But mind you, we wasn’t to get them thousand head unless we gobbled you. The fellers done their level best, but couldn’t find you!”
“What were you going to do with me if you found me?”
“That’s something I can’t tell. Nobody but Fletcher knows that.”
“Who’s Fletcher?”
“He’s the boss—the cap’n.”
“Who told you to gobble me?”
“What’s the use of me tellin’ you when you’ll be sartin to go off mad? You see, we kalkerlated to make twenty-six thousand dollars clear by two night’s work, but that didn’t satisfy us. Philip, he told us that thar was a whole bit of gold and silver in your uncle’s office, an’ we wanted that too; so we slipped down thar, an’ Philip, he opened the door an’ let us in.”