“I don't believe you're mixed up with that crew, and I don't see how you can be interested in covering their tracks. Are you sure you aren't taking the wrong tack?”
“I ain't covering anybody's tracks. You don't know what you're talking about.”
“Can't you see that we don't enjoy breaking into people's houses and prying around in bedrooms?”
“What do you do it for then?”
“What do we do it for! Why, McGlory and his gang are Smugglers—they're a bad lot. And this man with me is a government officer.”
“That ain't telling why you come here.”
“Now, Van Deelen, what's the use of keeping up that bluff? It doesn't fool anybody. We know all about their coming here. We've tracked them this far. This officer will never leave the house until he has opened this door and seen who you've got in here. I can promise you he 'll act like a gentleman. Now don't you think it would be a good deal better just to open up and be done with it?”
Having no reasonable answer to this, Van Deelen fell back into his sullen silence.
“Wonder what's taking him so long,” Dick observed. “Would he have to go far for a rail?”
There was no answer.