Andy said dryly, "I know what you mean."
"You leatherhead! Why didn't you take them in at night and plant them back in the swamp? You know places there that nobody else can reach."
"I did take them in at night, but I wanted to keep one pair under close observation, so I released them in the slough in front of my house. Somebody saw them, or somebody, fishing back in the swamp, stumbled across another colony. Then too, I think Johnny Linger talked. They came, of course, through his station."
"Johnny wouldn't talk."
"Not to Luke Trull," Andy conceded. "But he has friends in town. They have friends, and the news got around. What can I do?"
"Have you been to the State Police?"
"Yes. They told me to wait until somebody starts poaching, then come to them and they'd see what they could do about it."
"They can't do anything," Joe Wilson said quietly. "They'd have to catch Luke in the act, and knowing him as I do, they can't. I know that he's been violating game laws ever since he was old enough to shoot a gun or cast a line, but I myself have been able to catch him only once in fifteen years. You're in for trouble, Andy."
"I know it. Will posting the swamp help?"
"Will a trespass sign keep Luke Trull out of any place he wants to go into?"