“He might ’a’ seen me drivin’ off with the old chief,” the boy thought. “He stole out of the hotel just as I’m goin’ to do now. You can bet the cautious Toby wasn’t headed for Aaron’s house.”
Johnny tried to catch sight of Gallup’s party as it rode out of town. To see the better he opened the trapdoor which led to the roof of the hotel and crawled out upon it. A mile away he could see four horsemen riding into the north.
“A buckboard wasn’t fast enough for Gallup today, eh?” Johnny muttered. “They’ll never git anywhere ridin’ that fast. Aaron’ll be so sore in an hour or two that he’ll want to ride in a bed.”
Johnny crossed the roof to the side nearest the railroad tracks and looked down on Gallup’s house.
“My Lord,” he said half aloud, “this would ’a’ been a grand-stand seat for the doin’s last evenin’. If Toby had crawled up here he wouldn’t ’a’ missed a thing. And you can just bet your last cookie that that’s what he did. He’s just about streakin’ it right now for the Reservation. Him and the old chief are goin’ to have another powwow. Elk Valley is goin’ to be ’way over-populated before this day is done. I’ve got a hunch some of the visitors are never goin’ to come back to the Rock—unless Doc brings ’em.”
CHAPTER XXVIII
JOHNNY TALKS AT LAST
Big Jim greeted Johnny with a laugh. People said that the district attorney knew more and said less than any one in the county. A look of almost infinite wisdom was in his eyes as he studied Johnny.
“Well,” he questioned, “you’re goin’ to bust if you don’t talk, Johnny? Let’s have it.”
“You hit the nail, Jim. Talk—a big order of it—is what I want to git off my mind.”
“I’ve had my ears open, Johnny,” Kelsey said. “I wondered when you’d drop in.”