“Certainly not,” replied Chick decidedly. “They would have downed him right off the reel.”
“He must have had help, then,” Nick reasoned. “That is why I think there were two factions in the fight. I mean, of course, two different gangs.”
“Both out to get the Mexican?” questioned Chick.
“I’m not sure about that, though it now appears so,” Nick replied. “What they were going to gain by getting him is also an open question.”
“Decidedly.”
“Be that as it may, Chick, he evidently stabbed Taggart and undertook to escape in great haste. Otherwise he would not have left his knife in the yegg’s breast.”
“Surely not.”
“The stabbing may have precipitated the fight, or have occurred after the fight began,” Nick proceeded. “There is no way by which that can be immediately determined. It continued through the hall and into the kitchen, where[Pg 11] Batty Lang was shot. Here, now, is an important point. It further indicates that there were two gangs in the house.”
“What point is that?” Chick inquired.
“You saw where Lang was lying, with his feet near the open door and his head toward the middle of the room. He pitched forward on his face when shot, as the blood on the floor plainly shows.”