A good deal of detail was necessary, if Matt wanted to make out a strong case for himself and McGlory, so he began with the receipt of the colonel’s letter by his chum, and offered the letter in evidence. It was read by both the conductor and the Leeville man.
Then, taking events in sequence, Matt went over his and McGlory’s experiences during the preceding day, while they were prisoners in the old Higbee house and while they were fighting for their freedom.
It was an exciting story, and was listened to with deepest interest, not only by the conductor and the Leeville man, but also by two or three other passengers, as well.
“By hokey,” murmured the Leeville man, when the recital was finished, “if that’s the truth, young feller, you an’ your friend ought to have a medal. I never heard anythin’ like it before.”
“You said you wanted to send a telegram from Stoughton,” observed the conductor. “Who was the telegram going to?”
“To the New York bank,” replied Matt, “in order to keep the bullion from being delivered to Tibbits and his gang.”
“Have you written out the message?”
“Here it is,” and Matt turned over the colonel’s letter and showed the message to the trainman.
The conductor read it through carefully, and then read it aloud to the man from Leeville.
“To my mind,” said the conductor, “this is evidence that these lads are telling the truth. They wrote that message before I brought you here to identify them, so they couldn’t have framed it up to get out of a tight place.”