“Not Juniper Joe!” gasped the officer.
“None other. If I am making a mistake, I will stand responsible for it. The man who was slain out there was the same that Juniper Joe tried to kill the night of his wedding; and this woman, Vera Bright, was with the murdered man shortly before daylight this morning, as I know through the testimony of the German, who was watching the Casino at that time. He heard them quarreling. In addition, Mrs. Juniper Joe made that woman a visit yesterday.”
“If you back the thing, I’ll make the arrests,” said the officer, but reluctantly.
“I will back you!” the scout told him. “Or, if you don’t want to do it, I will make the arrests myself; yet I should prefer to have you to do that part of the work.”
He did not think it wise, being still rather hazy about some points himself, to tell these men all his conclusions; he preferred to let events speak for themselves.
When they got down to the Casino and called for Miss Vera Bright, they were informed that she was not there; that, in fact, she had left Blossom Range that morning, on the stage for Calumet Springs.
“Let me see the manager of the show,” Buffalo Bill requested.
The manager came down—a pale, blond, young fellow—and began to answer Buffalo Bill’s questions.
“I didn’t know she was going,” he declared; “and none of the company did. The first we knew, she had her things packed, and asked me for her salary. I wouldn’t pay it, of course, under the circumstances, as we expect to play here another week, and she was in the cast. She went away in a huff.”
“How long was she with your company?” was the scout’s next question.