“He? No, he was too scared, and, besides, the people around here are so terrified that they would rather submit to any loss than have the ill feeling of the desperate band that is making things so hot around Astoria for the people that pass the woods near the automobile repair shop of Jack Weeden.”
“Well, I suppose that Weeden knew of the robberies, then?” asked Nick.
“I didn’t say that he did, did I?”
“No, you did not say that he did, but don’t you think that he did?” persisted Nick.
“I would hardly like to say that, as Weeden has the reputation of being an honest man.”
“I don’t think that he is as good as folks think,” put in the woman Sallie.
“Shet up,” said the farmer, “you women talk too much, and your tongues often get you and your folks into a lot of trouble that you needn’t get into. I don’t know much about the man,” he added, to Nick.
“I guess that this fellow is about as scared of the man Weeden as are the rest,” thought Nick.
“It seems that you, Miss Sallie, are not afraid of this man that seems to have inspired the community with such dread.”
“You can just bet that I am not scared of him, and Harry Block knows it as well as any of the rest of them,” said Sallie.