"No, I wouldn't shoot him. I couldn't do more than threaten him."
"And if he saw that you were anxious to get back to the glen, then he would know that you are innocent and he would refuse to haul you a foot. We'll have to fool him."
"How?"
"Let him go on thinking you are guilty. And I'll tie you up early to-morrow morning and set him free, but I'll throw his cartridges away and keep your rifle handy. He will haul you right up to the kitchen door, Jim; and then it will be time to tell him the truth."
"Flora, you are a wonder! And you are not angry with me, are you?"
"Angry? Why should I be angry now that we are good friends again?"
"Then I'll chance it again!" he exclaimed, and he did.
They returned to their prisoner and the fire. They did not talk to each other or Homer. Jim ejected the unexploded cartridge from the Snider and pocketed it. He took the other cartridges from Homer's pocket and was about to throw them away when a bright scratch on the brass of one of them caught his eye. He examined it carefully, then extracted the bullet with the point of his knife. He did the same to the other shells.
"Where did you get your ammunition?" he asked.
"What's wrong with it?" asked the prisoner, who had watched the operations keenly and curiously.