“I see it,” said Jack. “Well?”
“You’ll bring the money with you, you’ll go to that flat-topped rock, and you’ll build a big fire of green boughs on it so as to make a big smoke. We shall see your smoke, ’cause we shall be looking out for it, and my pardner here will come down to the rock, and you’ll follow him to the place where me and these two boys’ll be. Then you’ll turn over the money to me, and you and the boys can go where you like.”
We had little inclination to laugh now, and still less as Squeaky went on.
“We’ll give you time enough,—say, ten days. That’ll allow for accidents. We’ll look out for your smoke on the ninth and tenth days. If there’s no smoke by sunset of the tenth day—remember! sunset of the tenth day—I’ll shoot the boys, and you needn’t trouble to come at all.
“There; that’s your part of the business. Do you understand what you’ve got to do? or shall I tell you all over again? I’ll tell you as often as you like; because a mistake is likely to prove fatal.”
“I understand,” said Jack. “But——”
“Hold up a bit,” interrupted Squeaky; “I haven’t quite done yet. As soon as you leave to-morrow morning we shall go off to a hiding-place I know of. It won’t do you any good to bring a sheriff and posse to hunt for us; you couldn’t find the place in a thousand years unless it was by accident. If you should take the fancy to try the experiment—well, we shall know of it, and the effect is likely to be injurious to the health of your two friends here. You won’t find us; we shall be gone. And so will the boys—only they’ll be gone to the place that nobody ever comes back from.
“That’s all I’ve got to say. You know what you’ve got to do; and you know the consequences if you fail. It’s just a plain business deal. We have two boys for sale at ten thousand dollars the pair. If anyone wants them, they can have ’em. If not——”
He finished his sentence with a grim nod, and a significant pat upon the stock of his rifle.
