"Prob'bly. If he was one of the burglars," commented the storekeeper.
"Of course he was one of the burgulars. He was like enough the ring-leader of 'em," declared Ezra.
"I never did like that feller much," breathed one easily convinced listener.
"Too uppity," said another.
"All them Endicotts is proud as Punch," declared a third.
"Here! Here!" cried Compton. "You fellers air jumpin' at a conclusion that's got mighty leetle evidence behind it. Ye air grabbing at it just like a snapper at a sandworm. You ain't sure he come back after he left town, bag and baggage, day 'fore yesterday."
"Yes, I be," said Ezra, nodding. "He was seen. As late as ten o'clock that night. Right here on Main Street."
"Ye don't say!" was the excited chorus.
But Silas Compton was not so easily convinced. He snorted and looked over his spectacles at Ezra, balancing back and forth on his soap-box as perky as any catbird.
"There ain't no sense in it," declared the storekeeper. "What need of that rich feller robbin' a bank?"