Part 27 (1/2)
”Don't turn me over to the authorities, Mr. Silverton,” the man pleaded.
”I've worked for you two years-doing the best I could. I did make mistakes-I admit it, and the worst one was ever getting acquainted with those two yellow dogs, Jake Freeze and Bernie Bauer.”
”Now we're getting somewhere, Dobbs. So you admit you worked with them in stealing my pheasants?”
”If I tell you the whole story, will you let me off?” Dobbs tried to bargain.
”We'll see,” his employer returned coldly. ”Unless you do tell me, I'll call the police. I promise you that!”
Dobbs drew a deep breath and said sullenly: ”Well, it was like this: I knew Freeze and Bauer several years ago before I came to work for you.
During the war I was employed by a man named Willis who had an estate north of here.”
”I've heard of him,” Silverton nodded.
”He had deer in his forest. Meat was scarce then, and it seemed a shame for folks to go without, just for want of a few ration stamps.”
”So you made a deal to supply deer to Freeze and Bauer?” Mr. Silverton demanded, guessing at the story.
”That's about the size of it,” Dobbs admitted. ”Only they came to me with the proposition. I never liked the business, so I pulled out and came to Webster City.”
”Then you got mixed up in pheasant stealing?”
”Not intentionally. Believe me, Mr. Silverton, I've worked hard trying to keep things running smoothly here.”
”You receive a generous salary for your work, I believe?”
”Oh, I ain't complaining,” Dobbs said uncomfortably. ”You've been decent to me-mighty decent.”
”How did you get mixed up with Freeze and Bauer again?”
”They learned I was working for you and followed me here. At first I wouldn't listen to 'em, but they kept threatening if I didn't play along, they'd tip off to you about my previous black market activities. Then I knew I'd lose my job.”
”So you made a deal with them?”
”They forced me into it. I never got much out of it myself.”
”How long has this stealing been going on, Dobbs?”
”Only since last fall. At first Freeze and Bauer didn't take many pheasants. Lately, they've pressured me into letting them have more and more.”
”The pheasants were s.h.i.+pped out of town for sale, just as the Cubs thought?”
”I don't know where they were sold,” Dobbs said. ”Freeze and Bauer never told me any of the details of their business, and I didn't ask. Mostly they drove in here at night, using the old logging road.”
”You let them know when the coast was clear, so to speak?”
”They made me do that. But believe me, Mr. Silverton, I never let 'em have as many pheasants as they wanted.”
”Very considerate of my interests,” the sportsman said sarcastically.