“Wait, wait!” interrupted the smiling stranger. “Which of your friends is Ezra?”
“That is my name, sir,” answered young Prentiss steadily enough.
“Ah!” said the other, and he looked at him searchingly. “Thank you.” And as Ben told off the other two pairs of saddle-bags the speaker added: “Well, well, you have sharp eyes, young gentleman. I did not think it could be done so easily.”
During the above, Nat had not devoted all his attention to the stranger. Ezra had come in for his share of observation, and the boy from the mountains saw the various changes of expression that had flashed over his face. At the first reference to the saddle-bags by the tall man, Ezra had glanced at him quickly—and there was something in the glance that was puzzled and hesitating. But as the other proceeded the boy grew slightly pale and Nat saw his lips come together in a tight line.
And as the others talked and laughed, Nat pondered the subject in his own mind carefully.
“It is plain to me,” he told himself, “that these men are met here for the purpose of possessing themselves of Mr. Adams’ letter. But why has it been necessary for them to go to all this trouble if Ezra is in league with them? Why could he not have arranged to meet one of them quietly and hand over the document without further bother? It would have been much simpler, much easier and much safer.”
This point puzzled him for a space; then the possible reason for all the plotting came to him like an inspiration.
“I have it,” he thought. “If the message were delivered to these people secretly, Ezra would be held accountable—he would be suspected. If some show is made of taking it from him against his will, with all of us as witnesses, he can easily convince his employers that he did all he could to safeguard it.”
This idea grew and took shape in Nat’s mind. And he began to suspect that the tall man’s attempt to pass himself off as a sympathizer with the colonies had not been so clumsy after all. It was possible that he might have thrown himself open to suspicion intentionally, so that in the end, if he succeeded in securing the paper, it could be shown that there had been a systematic plan laid and carried through for its possession.
“If this is so, it is very ingeniously and carefully laid,” thought the boy. “And I must keep my eyes wide open.”