But as they shook hands at parting, little did they think that one of them would not be alive to keep the appointment!
John's decision was his death-knell!
When Captain Lull arrived at Monegaw Springs, from Chicago, to take charge of the demoralized forces of the Pinkertons after their abortive attempt to trap Jesse at Brett's camp, he spent only time enough at the health resort to learn the details and transferred his base of operations to Osceola.
Realizing that his actions would be hampered should it be known that he was a detective, Lull took the name of Allen and gave it out that he was acting as a buyer for a cattleman who was then in St. Louis.
This city was selected because the man-hunter had a clever friend, named Wright, whom he wished to have assist him in running the bandits to cover.
The way thus paved for Wright's coming and their subsequent trips through the surrounding country, Lull, or Allen, sent a code despatch summoning the amateur sleuth.
"Find everyone of their friends or relatives in the vicinity of the Springs," declared the latter when he had been apprised of the situation. Yet before they could put the plan into operation, the news of the raid on the bank and the sensational imprisonment of young Rozier was flashed throughout the world.
"That won't make any difference to us. In fact it increases the chances of our success," asserted Wright when he read the report. "If Jesse was shrewd enough to know that he could commit a robbery at the other side of the state when everybody thought he was in hiding about the Springs, he'll resort to the same tactics and come back here in the belief that the search will be the hottest around Ste. Genevieve."
Convinced by the argument, Lull acquiesced in the proposition to remain. And though their scheme did not catch the man they wanted, it did catch one of the outlaws.
Having pursued their inquiries as far as they could, the man-hunters found themselves balked by the suspicion of the natives for strangers. And to remove the barrier, they finally pressed an inhabitant of Osceola, Edward Daniels by name, into service as a guide.