“I’m sure I don’t know. But Sheriff Kimball has been twice to see father about it. Dan and Billy are bound to get into trouble if they don’t look out.”
“How ridiculous. I don’t believe there is anybody on the island.”
“We saw that dummy ourselves,” declared Lettie, her lips pursed.
“But you went all over the island with Billy afterward. You didn’t find any hiding place.”
“The sheriff says it’s there. He has reason to know, he states. There was some man—so he says—who broke with the outlaws and ‘turned State’s evidence,’ he calls it. Sheriff Kimball says he has been waiting for two months for this boy who can’t talk very well to come and see him. The man who confessed said he would send all the evidence by this dummy. And you know he was at Billy’s house and the boys never told the sheriff——”
“Why should they?” demanded Mildred, startled.
“Well, you know what the boys said about finding a slip of paper after the dummy went away, and what was written on the paper? It said: ‘Buried on the island. Dummy will show you the spot.’ Sheriff Kimball says that doubtless referred to the evidence Harry Biggin meant him to have.”
“Harry Biggin?”
“That’s the name of the man who broke with the outlaws and is helping the officers get the crowd.”
“He’s an informer,” asserted Mildred, with scorn.