The clerk drew back into his room, and Carl and Chub started along the hall toward the stairs. When they were about halfway down the hall a door opened as they were passing it and Slocum showed himself.
There was a guilty look on his face—or so it seemed to Carl—and before he could draw back Carl had leaped at him and grabbed him by the shoulder.
Slocum muttered an oath, and one hand darted toward his hip. When the hand reappeared from under his long coat it held a revolver.
"Oh, that's your game, is it?" cried Chub.
The next moment he had grabbed the hand holding the revolver, and he and Carl, between them, had pushed Slocum back into the room.
With a quick move Chub wrenched the weapon out of Slocum's hand and trained it on him.
"That'll do for you," said he menacingly. "Now sit down and get peaceable. Carl, here, has got somethin' he wants to say."
[CHAPTER XI.]
RUNNING DOWN A CLUE.