“You know what I mean,” declared Buck, angrily.
“Drop it, Buck,” advised his father, and turned to Olson.
“How many men in the gang, Scotty?”
“Three that we know of—possibly a fourth. A man got on the express car when the train stopped at Encinas, and him and the express messenger had a fight. They fell out of the door and rolled into the ditch. It kinda looks as though this feller was one of the gang. Anyway, there was three that stopped the train, cut off the engine and express car, and blowed the safe.”
“Are you just startin’ out after ’em?” asked Buck, squinting at the sun. “Not very early, it seems to me.”
“I didn’t know nothin’ about it until this mornin’,” said Porter. “I came in from Encinas early this mornin’ on a freight, and went to bed. I got up jist before noon, and they told me about it; so I got the sheriff and we started out.”
Apostle Paul turned to the sheriff, whose ears were red.
“Where were you all this time, Scotty?”
“He was in jail,” said Porter.
“In jail?”