Snell’s companion was looking at him sharply.
It was to him the leader spoke next.
“I s’pose, Jim Leonard,” he said, “thet you’ve got a word of honor to stack up thet ye never seen this man afore, eh?”
“He’s a stranger to me,” replied Leonard. “I never saw him before, and we took all the pains we could to keep from being followed. Snell’s been in town three days without seeing anybody who was on his track. Why should anybody be on his track, anyway?”
“Why!” roared the leader, “to get us behind the bars, you fool! Ain’t that reason enough?”
He turned again to the detective.
“P’r’haps you’ll tell us how ye come here?” he said.
“Certainly,” replied Patsy. “I saw these two men in town. It was plain enough that they had good business of some kind on. I took ’em for prospectors and thought they’d struck a good thing somewhere. It wasn’t a straight thing to do, but I followed ’em to see what they’d got.”
This was a story that it was very easy for the rough Westerners to believe.
Evidently they were struck by it, for they looked at each other doubtfully.