Alex shook his head. His idea was that King should join them in a good, friendly dinner and then go away without asking questions about what Don had or had not said. He had a notion, a hope, too, that, in time, Don might join the Rambler crew if King would only get out of the way.
“We didn’t have time to talk about anything,” he explained, pleasantly. “Just as soon as we got to shore the ruction commenced, and we were kept busy taking care of ourselves. He would probably have come back to the boat with us if he hadn’t seen you. You frightened him away!”
Having thus adroitly placed the blame for Don’s flight on the deputy, Alex leaned back in his chair and pretended to be very sleepy.
“I don’t blame you for his flight,” King finally said, “but I really believe you might tell me more of his plans. It seems he became quite friendly with you. Has he kept all the money?”
“He said he had every cent of it,” Alex replied, not adding that at that minute the stolen treasury notes were hidden under his own clothing.
“If I could get hold of the stolen handbag and the money,” King went on, “I think I might be able to compromise for the boy. The man who lost the bag and the notes seems to want to get his property back more than he wants the boy punished.”
Alex considered this new proposition gravely. Could King suspect that he had the money? It seemed to the boy that the bag was of too trifling importance to be mentioned in connection with the money. That is, unless it had contained something of great value besides the treasury notes! Was King talking for his benefit in suggesting that the return of the money and the bag might release Don from further pursuit?
Then Alex remembered the papers he had seen Don stow away so carefully in the belt. They might be of the greatest importance, and he resolved to examine the belt at the first opportunity in order to see if they were still there. King watched the boy curiously, as if understanding what was passing in his mind.
“I don’t think he will ever give up the money,” Alex said, presently, “until he gives it to the person to whom he thinks it belongs. I guess he took it from this man Josiah Trumbull just to pass it on to the real owner. I don’t know anything about the bag. He did not even mention it to me,” he concluded, looking King enquiringly in the face.
“The man who came out from Chicago to see me,” the deputy explained, “laid great stress on the handbag. He seemed to think that Don would keep the bag as well as the money. And he wanted the bag just as much as he wanted the treasury notes.”