“For what reason?”
“Candidly, I don’t know, Captain. We have got to find out, and it is advisable for us to go in search of the answer to that question as fast as we can. We will mount and move on.”
“I suppose I am the one who will have to furnish the brains for this party and find the missing man,” declared Stacy pompously, but no one laughed at his sally.
A minute later they were mounted and on their way up the ravine, the sheriff still carrying the lantern, which he held low, keeping his gaze constantly on the trail, which still was fairly plain and easy for an experienced man to follow. Stacy dropped behind a little way and produced a plum pudding can from his pocket. Opening the can, he calmly proceeded to eat the pudding.
“What’s that you’re eating?” demanded one of the two passengers.
“Pudding. A plum one.”
“Where did you get it?”
“Oh, back there in the diner,” answered Stacy carelessly.
“You stole a pudding, eh?” laughed the questioner.
“Oh, my; no, sir. How could you think such a thing? Don’t you know I wouldn’t do anything like that?”