"It would be as well if we showed a light," suggested another. "It's bad enough being plundered; we don't want to be pulverised by a stray engine in the dark."
"Why didn't we plug the leader?" inquired the gentleman with the Portuguese cast of features. "We might have shot the lot if we'd acted together."
"You're a fine one to talk about shooting," exclaimed a Rhodesian farmer hotly. "You looked like falling through your trousers."
There was a general laugh at this, for during the raid the man had been trembling like an aspen leaf.
Then in the pause that ensued, the silence was broken by Joe Londray.
"What I'd like to know," he remarked hurriedly, "is why those two weren't made to bail up."
He pointed an accusing finger at Colin and Tiny.
"It's my opinion that they're in league with the robbers," he added.