"Didn't I tell you it was all a fake?" Jeb asked as soon as the rest of the party had gone on. "He had no more idea of finding Hains than a squirrel has of storing up cheese for winter."
"It looked that way to me," Bob said.
"Why a blind man could see it," Jeb insisted.
"Pretty near," Jack agreed.
"Did you notice Los any to-day?" Jeb asked after a short pause.
"Yes," Bob replied, "and it seemed to me that he was particularly light-hearted."
"Of course he was. He knew we were on a wild goose chase, and that their plans for to-morrow weren't going to be interfered with, at least so far as Skeets was concerned. But I'm some worried about them same plans. I have a hunch they're planning something big and that I'm to be the goat."
"It seems to me," Bob began, "that you've got enough evidence against him to warrant accusing him of being in cahoots with the rustlers."
For several moments Jeb was silent and the boys could see that a struggle was going on in his mind.
"I suppose you're right," he finally said. "But I sure do hate to do it."