“I don’t rightly know. I don’t know anything about it. I reckon I don’t want to know. Neither would you if you had been up here long and had heard as much about it as I have. Did you ever hear of the Jones gang?”
“I reckon we have. We had a little mix-up with them. At least, we understand that was the outfit,” Hippy informed them.
“Yes, and we drove them off and gave them a good walloping,” added Stacy.
“Let’s hear the yarn,” called a cowboy.
Hippy related the story of the hold-up and of the skirmish that followed, resulting in the driving off of the train robbers. The cowboys listened attentively, their expressions showing an increasing respect for the “tenderfeet” who had dropped in on them for a friendly call.
“Why should this band of outlaws have reason to interfere with us?” asked Tom.
“Why do they bother other folks?” answered Mr. Giddings. “For what they can get out of it, of course,” he said, answering his own question.
“They will not get much if they hold us up,” Grace Harlowe informed their hosts.
“No. I reckon that would not likely put you in peril, for the reason that they are after bigger game, like that treasure on the Red Limited. There’s another thing, though, that might make it equally bad for you people.”
“What is that, Mr. Giddings?” asked Elfreda.