Part 27 (1/2)

”Oh, John Wesley! John Wesley!” said Dines scornfully. ”You think the sun rises and sets in old John Wesley Pringle. Naw; he didn't get back till it was all over. I cannot tell a lie. I did it with my little hatchet!”

”Must have had it sharpened up!” said Jeff. ”Tell it to me!”

”Why, there isn't much to tell,” said Dines, suddenly modest. ”Come to think of it, I had right considerable help. There was a young college chap--he first put it into my head that it wasn't you.”

”That would be the devil?” said Jeff, ignoring the insult.

”Just so. Name's White--and so's he: Billy White, S. M. and G. P.”

”I don't just remember them degrees,” said Jeff.

”Aw, keep still and you'll hear more. They stand for Some Man and Good People. Well, as I was a-saying, Billy he seemed to think it wasn't you.

He stuck to it that b.u.t.tinski--that's what he calls you--was in a garden just when the bank was robbed.”

Johnny contemplated the apple tree over his head. It was a wandering and sober glance, but a muscle twitched in his cheek, and he made no further explanation about the garden.

”And then I remembered about n.i.g.g.e.r Babe throwin' you off, and I began to think maybe you didn't crack the safe after all. And there was some other things--little things--that made Billy and Jimmy Phillips--he was takin' cards in the game too--made 'em think maybe it was Lake; but it wasn't no proof--not to say proof. And there's where I come in.”

”Well?” said Jeff, as Johnny paused.

”Simple enough, once you knowed how,” said Johnny modestly. ”I'd been reading lots of them detective books--Sherlock Holmes and all them fellows. I got Billy to have his folks toll Lake's sister away for the night, so she wouldn't be scared. Then me and Billy and Jimmy Phillips and Monte, we broke in and blowed up Lake's private safe. No trouble at all. Since the bank-robbin' every one had been tellin' round just how it ought to be done--crackin' safes. Funny how a fellow picks up little sc.r.a.ps of useful knowledge like that--things you'd think he'd remember might come in handy most any time--and then forgets all about 'em. I wrote it down this time. Won't forget it again.”

”Well?” said Jeff again.

”Oh, yes. And there was the nice money--all the notes and all of the gold he could tote.”

Jeff's eye wandered to the new saddle.

”I kept some of the yellow stuff as a souvenir--half a quart, or maybe a pint,” said Johnny. ”I don't want no reward for doin' a good deed....

And that's all.”

”Lake is a long, ugly word,” said Jeff thoughtfully.

”Well, what do you say?” prompted Johnny.

”Oh, thank you, thank you!” said Jeff. ”You showed marvelous penetration--marvelous! But say, Johnny, if the money hadn't been there wouldn't that have been awkward?”

”Oh, Billy was pretty sure Lake was the man. And we figured he hadn't bothered to move it--you being the goat that way. What made you be a goat, Jeff? That whole performance was the most idiotic break I ever knew a grown-up man to get off. I knew you were not strictly accountable, but why didn't you say, 'Judge, your Honor, sir, at the time the bank was being robbed I was in a garden with a young lady, talking about the hereafter, the here and the heretofore?'”

”On the contrary, what made your Billy think it was Lake?”

Johnny told him, in detail.

”Pretty good article of plain thinking, wasn't it?” he concluded. ”Yet he mightn't have got started on the right track at all if he hadn't had the straight tip about your bein' in a garden.” Johnny's eye reverted to the apple tree. ”Lake found your noseguard, you know, where you left it.

I reckon maybe he saw you leave it there.--Say, Jeff! Lake's grandfather must have been a white man. Anyhow, he's got one decent drop of blood in him, from somewhere. For when we arrested him, he didn't say a word about the garden. That was rather a good stunt, I think. Bully for Lake, just once!”

”Right you are! And, Mr. J. Dines, I've been thinking----” Jeff began.

Johnny glanced at him anxiously.