"Then let him answer," retorted the great outlaw. "No one can accuse me of being a horse thief and get away with it when the stolen nag is in her own pasture all the time.
"There's something at the bottom of all this and I intend to find it out!"
Acquiescing in the justice of Jesse's stand, the others stared at the quaking boy.
"You'd best make a clean breast of it," counselled the bandit-chieftain, "you won't get any aid from these gentlemen.
"Just tell me how you knew I was to be accused."
An instant the helpless conspirator said nothing.
With a wink at the members of the posse, Jesse clicked the hammer of his "Colt."
"Spare me! Spare me!" groaned Fred. "I'll tell. I'll tell." And hurriedly he blurted the details of the plot to discredit the rescuers.
Incredulous, the men stared at one another as the story was told.
Unwilling to believe that the merchant would stoop to such an act, they examined the boy with a merciless fire of cross-questions.