He noticed that the man was staring at them as they glided past, with the motor slowed down to its lowest ebb; as Tony had requested that they only keep with the current. And turning toward the swamp boy he saw him make some sort of sign to the man—it might be merely a wave of recognition; and again there may have been a deeper significance connected with it.
"You knew him, then, Tony?" asked Phil, trying to seem indifferent.
"Oh! yes, sure," replied the other, quickly. "That was Gabe Barker."
"Barker!" exclaimed Phil, "any relation to our friend the sheriff, now?"
"Yep, that's the funny part o' it," replied Tony, with a slight smile. "Gabe an' the sheriff be full cousins. But all the same, Gabe he helped to carry the pole when they ride t'other Barker out o' the settlement. They has a feud you see, his fambly an' that o' the sheriff."
"But Gabe is one of the McGee clan now, isn't he?" pursued Phil.
"He's be'n, nigh on seven year," Tony admitted. "Think he licked the father o' the sheriff, and hed tuh cut stick an' run afore they got 'im."
"Why d'ye suppose he didn't call out to you?" asked Phil; who really considered this the most sinister part of the entire proceeding; for according to his way of thinking it would have been the natural thing for a man to have done under such circumstances.
Tony allowed that queer little smirk to creep over his face again.
"Gabe he would like to much, on'y he couldn't," he said.