The telling of the story did not take long, as Hashknife did not embellish it in any way. The sheriff and Sunshine listened to every word, exchanging glances occasionally, but neither of them interrupted.
“What was King and this other man doing at Jack’s place?” asked the sheriff, when Hashknife finished.
“I didn’t ask him.”
“And he knew this feller Bates, eh?”
“Yeah—seemed to.”
“Why did Bates kill this partner of King’s?”
“You better ask somebody that knows of their personal affairs, Sheriff. I brought the bodies in, thassall. Outside of my story, I don’t know any more than you do.”
“Uh-huh. Well, we’ll have to take your word for it. There’s a lot of men kinda lookin’ for you two fellers. Some of ’em didn’t leave here so long ago either.”
“We met ’em,” nodded Hashknife. “If they were lookin’ for us, they’ve forgot all about it.”
“My gosh, yuh didn’t kill all five of ’em, didja?” blurted Sunshine.