He nodded.
“I surely do,” he said quietly. “And when a murderer is captured, and the irons are fixed right, there’s only one price he can ask. That’s freedom.”
“That’s so. Well?”
The relaxing was gone from the man’s face. McLagan read the anxiety lying behind that final interrogation.
“I let you go once before, Caspar,” he went on coldly. “I told you then you’d hang, you were born to hang. That’s why I let you go. I’m still sure you’ll hang. That’s why I’m ready to let you loose on this hill country again. But if you want me to do that, why, you’ve got to hand me the story of your ship the Imperial from A to Z. There’s no lies’ll serve you. Len Stern and I know enough to check you up all the time. You can only get away on the truth. In return we’ll release you now, right here. There’s the hill country back of here, and the Canadian border beyond. It’s a dog’s chance. You’re tough, and maybe you can get through. I don’t know and don’t care. It’s a chance of a respite before that hanging which is coming your way.”
McLagan ceased speaking and the sound of Len Stern passing outside came in the silence that followed. Then Caspar cleared a throat that was dry with fierce anxiety. And suspicion lurked behind his expressionless eyes.
“Why d’you need that story? What’s the dirty game behind it? When a feller like you gets his hands on a man he reckons to have done murder, why, for a story, is he ready to hand him a getaway?” He shook his head. “The price is right, McLagan. But ther’s a snag somewhere. It looks like your case is bad. It looks like you’re maybe a bad payer. It looks like ther’s things to you you ain’t yearning to have around in the light of open court.”
Again he shook his head.
But the challenge left McLagan quite unruffled. His smile was derisive as his answer came on the instant.
“That’s all right, Caspar,” he said. “It can look just as it pleases you to make it look. I don’t care a cent. The only thing is Len’s coming right back. I can hear him. And so can you. The ponies, I guess, are fixed. Well, we’re starting for Beacon right away, or we aren’t. You can please your darn self. The price will be paid or not, as you choose. But you’ve only five seconds to choose in.”