“We’ll manage to break into the talk after a bit, understand, Amos,” he was now saying, “and don’t be surprised when I make a statement that isn’t exactly true. But those two guards did say they hoped to run across us again while up here in this neck of the woods; you heard them, Amos?”
“I certainly did,” came the quick reply.
“All right then, a fellow is allowed to stretch things just a little when the circumstances are as desperate as they seem to be with us right now. Well, I’m meaning to remark incidentally that we kind of expect them to drop in on us before morning; in fact, that they may see the light of our campfire any old time, and show up. Get that, Amos?”
The other actually chuckled, this time without much of an effort.
“I’m on to your game, Elmer,” he announced, eagerly.
“Do you think it’s a good one?” demanded the originator of the scheme.
“Simply great, and that’s a fact. Of course, if he was the genuine article he’d act as if delighted to know there was a chance for him to meet up with the balance of the search posse again.”
“Oh! don’t fool yourself about that, Amos; he’s too smart not to act as if tickled half to death at the prospect,” resumed Elmer. “I expect all that to happen.”
“Then how are we going to know whether he’s the real, or counterfeit article, Elmer?”
“They say the proof of the pudding is in the eating of it, Amos. Lots of things in this world are different from what they seem to be on their face. No matter what his make-believe is, we’ll know the truth by his actions, when he thinks no one is looking.”