“Yes; it may save you chaps a heap o’ trouble,” drawled the blond lad, with a peculiar grin.
“But we don’t intend to do any hunting or fishing, Thunderbolt, until this Jed Warren affair is cleared up,” put in Tom.
“Then you might as well pack up and go home,” declared Billy Ashe, bluntly. “Jed Warren is gone. He won’t come back, either—depend upon that. I’ve been working on the case, and am in a good position to know. Did Sergeant Erskine tell you what we’ve learned?”
“Yes,” answered Tom, shortly.
“And still you don’t believe it?”
“No!” cried Tom, with almost a touch of anger in his voice. “Jed Warren wouldn’t have deserted if a whole army of smugglers and cattle rustlers had been hot on his trail.”
“I like to see a fellow stick up for his friends,” commented the trooper. “But there’s no sense in dodging facts.”
“For sure,” put in Teddy Banes. “Him one big fool to think he find Warren. Many times I tell him so; but always he shakes his head.”
“And I’ll shake it some more,” cried Tom, highly indignant.
“Don’t carry your quarrels into Indian teepees, Tom,” advised Larry. “You mustn’t mislay your manners.”