Apparently the man did not intend being impertinent, but was merely stating the case as he recognized it.
Nevertheless Ralph felt both angry and impotent.
“How do you know ‘the kid,’ as you call him, had anything to do with the strikers,” he inquired. “And if he did, what is that to you?”
The man shook his head.
“Nothing, maybe, except that we want to find out just how deep he was in the trouble. There were some rails torn up out of the track last night a few miles from here and a freight train went over. Lucky it was a freight, but the engineer was pretty badly hurt. We’ve got a straight tip that two or three of the strikers did the work. And we have been hearing that this boy, who is staying out here in a camp with a lot of relations and girls, has been loafing around with these same men, getting news for them and watching what was going on in places they couldn’t show themselves.”
“Nonsense,” Ralph returned. He was thinking quickly.
“Will you give me the chance to go and tell the boy’s people what you have come for?” he asked. “You see his mother is with him now and there is no telling what effect your appearance on such an errand will have on her.”
The older of the two police officers nodded, with an expression of relief. Evidently he had no taste for the task ahead of him.
This afternoon Sunrise camp looked like an idyl. The tents stood in white outline against the dark background of pine trees. In the central space before the tents a big camp fire was burning and seated about it were three or four girls in their Camp Fire costumes.
The two other groups were not for away.