“What ails you, Jerry?” queried Lige.
Without speaking, Jerry shambled to the wall and swept one clawlike hand over it; then he looked at the hand and turned on Lige with eyes that gleamed like coals.
“Look, Lige!” he whispered hoarsely.
He held up his hand. Lige Benner saw that it had been blackened with something from the wall.
“What is it?” went on Lige curiously.
“Soot! Soot and ashes, Lige. Here’s where Gringo Pete Billings was leaning while Red Steve was talking to him. Gringo Pete couldn’t have picked up soot and ashes on his clothes between the Star-A ranch and here.”
Lige Benner had not the wit necessary to follow these deductions back to their cause, but he knew that some discovery of importance had been made by Jerry.
The hunchback whirled around, without waiting for further talk, and rushed into the rear room. He saw the chair where Wild Bill had been sitting when summoned into the living room to talk with Red Steve. The chair also had traces of soot and ashes on its seat and back.
Like a hound on the scent, Jerry glided to the fireplace, staring into it and upward with sharp, glimmering eyes. The next moment the hunchback got into the fireplace.
“Go into the next room and talk, Lige,” he called out; “talk out loud, Lige, just like you were talking with Isaacs.”