“What has this to do with the hold-up?”
“That’s right, the hold-up. Well, this fellow Boone got your father to drinking, and then sprung it on him to rob the stage when the bullion was being shipped. Somehow Boone had got inside information about when this was to be. He had been nosing around up at the mine, and may have overheard something. O’ course we know what your father would have done if he hadn’t been drinking. He’s straight as a string, even if he does go off like powder. But when a man’s making a blue blotter 146 of himself, things don’t look the same to him. Anyhow he went in.”
“He didn’t. I can prove he didn’t,” burst from Melissy’s lips.
“Be glad to hear your proof later. He ce’tainly planned the hold-up. Jim Budd overheard him.”
“Did Jim tell you that?”
“Don’t blame him for that. He didn’t mean to tell, but I wound him up so he couldn’t get away from it. I’ll show you later why he couldn’t.”
“I’m sure you must have been very busy, spying and everything,” she told him bitterly.
“I’ve kept moving. But to get back to the point. Your father and Boone were on the ground where the stage was robbed either at the time or right after. Their tracks were all over there. Then they got on their horses and rode up the lateral.”
“But they couldn’t. The ditch was full,” broke from the girl.
“You’re right it was. You must be some observing to know when that ditch is full and empty to an hour. I reckon you’ve got an almanac of tides,” he said ironically.