"You can see for yourself by looking in. As I found no one at home, I stooped to place it under the canvas and—"
"Staid to see what you could see," interrupted Jesse. "Ted," looking at Cole, "find out if there is any bundle inside."
Eagerly the crowd awaited his reply.
"Yes, there is one," he called.
"Now will you believe me?" demanded the man-hunter, anxious to escape from his inquisitors.
"Not yet. That may be just a blind to be used in case we were at home or you were caught sneaking in, as you were.
"It's my opinion you are a thief!"
Crimsoning at the charge, Dillaby looked about him helplessly. No suspicion was there in his mind as to the true identity of the man before him. That he was the Mr. Howard he had no doubt from the clever manner in which the outlaw had twisted appearances against him and so serious was his predicament that he feared it would be necessary to call upon Mr. Rozier to extricate him—an event that would lay bare the whole plot.
Enjoying the man's misery, the world famous desperado determined to make him disclose his purpose.
"Do you know what's in the package?" he asked.