Benner spoke louder than before, and sprang at Hunch, but missed him, and would have fallen against the counter had not Hunch caught him.
"Hello, there, boys! What are you fighting about?" Colonel Hornbeger called from the desk.
"Nothin'," Benner replied surlily; and Hunch said, "Benner's mad 'cause I told him somethin' he didn't like."
"Well, no fighting here."
"Say, Benner, what'd yer call me a liar fer?" Hunch asked when the Colonel's back was turned.
"'Cause yer sed Lizzī knowed she was married wrong."
This was spoken in a whisper so the Colonel would not hear it.
"Didn't say nothin' uv the kind. I sed she knowed the boys hed gone huntin' fer Gill."
"They won't ketch him," the blind man stated. "If he's run off, he'll hide from 'em, but he couldn't hide from me."
Hunch did not laugh at this declaration. He had equal faith in the blind man's ability as a detective, and expressed it.