“Yes, it’s a long journey, sir. However, I must go and you must go along with me.”
“I am not in condition to travel.”
“I know that, sir, and I’m sorry. I wish I did not need you on the job, but you must be with me in order to identify those men who robbed you. Your complaint will put them in the jug if we can’t scare them and twist the money out of them in another way. I can’t do a thing without your presence, unless I catch up with them and knock them down. I may just as well stay East here and commit highway robbery for you!”
I had another reason for insisting on his making the trip with me, but I kept it to myself. If I left him behind there in Levant with my rambunctious uncle barking at his heels and creditors waking up to suspicions, I could not have one moment’s peace of mind. I felt pretty sure that he would betray himself by face, his actions, or by suicide or confession. He was in no shape to endure inquisition if he were left where folks could get at him.
“You must go,” I insisted.
“Where?”
“It’s more or less of a blind run.”
“But I must know.”
“We’re only wasting time by talking it over ahead, Judge Kingsley, because I don’t know much about the trip myself.”
He began to show temper, and I could not blame him much. My comfortable craziness which I had put on along with my “dream suit” was helping a lot; the judge was frostily sane.