Matt and his friends listened to this line of talk with a good deal of wonder, but they were not disposed, just then, to take Dashington's word for anything.
"You say you wrote that letter?" queried Matt, noting how the youth's talk harmonized with the letter's contents.
"Want me to make a song out of it and set it to music? You haul considerable freight, in a general way, but you haven't taken on much of a load this trip."
"You're the swab Carl and I gave the letter to on the levee, all right," spoke up Dick.
"Thanks for the word. Swab! That expresses it nicely. Because of that letter, which I didn't want, I got rung into the biggest Jonah play that ever hip-locked with me. As a consequence my ticket is merely a souvenir. And now here comes Motor Matt and roughs things up in good old Texas style. That's dead tough luck and would bring tears to a pair of glass eyes."
"You stole the diamonds?"
"I played understudy to Motor Matt and lifted the sparks. I walked two long blocks with them concealed upon my person, then Whistler handed me a fistful of fives twice, right where they started the slumber song. Was I down? Yes, indeed, and for several minutes. When I rounded to and took a fresh grasp of the situation, Jurgens, Whistler and Bangs had chugged away in their auto and had forgotten to leave the dazzlers."
"Ah!" said Matt grimly. "You robbed Townsend and then Jurgens and his men robbed you."
"I hope I may drop if that wasn't the way of it. It was a lesson for me, I think; anyhow, it's a mortal cinch I got a horrible sorry on for what I'd done. 'They played me for a mark,' I says to myself, 'and got the sparklers; now I'll turn to and help Motor Matt get them back again.' That's why I wrote that letter, and I dropped it in a mail box just before I pushed off in a boat and floated down the river. Happened to meet a colored brother fishing; I told him I wanted to go to Bayou Yamousa, and the colored brother happened to know the way; also he happened to have a mule and a wagon, and he brought me here. I didn't think you'd be along before night, and I was just keeping myself as retired as possible while waiting for you to get here. This shanty looked good to me, and as I was some fagged on account of the night's labor, I locked the door, stretched myself out and have been pounding my ear ever since."