The old
man give me several specimens of langwidge unwashed and uncombed
when I told him Wolf and York was outlaws and train-robbers.
Didn't believe a word of it, he said. 'Twas just like the fool
officers to jump an innocent party. I told Jay to keep his shirt
on--he could turn his wolf lose when they framed up that he was
in it. Well, sir! I plumb thought for a moment he was going to
draw on me when I said that. Say he must be the fellow that's in
on that mine, with Leroy and York Neil. He's a big, long-haired
guy."
Collins' eyes narrowed to slits, as they always did when he was
thinking intensely. Were their suspicions of the showman about to
be justified? Did Jay Hardman's interest in Leroy have its source
merely in their being birds of a feather, or was there a more
direct community of lawlessness between them? Was he a member of
Wolf Leroy's murderous gang? Three men had joined in the chase of
Dailey, but the tracks had told him that only two horses had
galloped from the scene of the murder into the night. The
inference left to draw was that a local accomplice had joined
them in the chase of Scott, and had slipped back home after the
deed had been finished.
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