“I didn’t find the stage or the money, ’cause he didn’t have it with
him.”
“What stage was that?” asks the sheriff.
Hank, I’ve knowed a lot of ignorant officers, but they was all wise men
beside this sheriff. I stood right there with my foot on Devil Creek’s
head, and I told him all about it. I sure wised that _hombre_ a plenty.
I got so interested that I took my foot off Devil Creek’s head, and he
sat up.
I told him about how I got Devil Creek’s description from a detective,
and Devil Creek sort of grinned and says—
“He knowed I was after him, and he thought I’d be safer in jail.”
“But about the stage,” says the sheriff, and Uncle Gabe says—
“Dobie sure thought it had been stolen, and I thought so, too, until I
got to Manzanita that night and found the horses in the stable and the
money in the safe. After things were explained to me, I just decided not
to say a word to Dobie about it. This man just wanted to go down the
country, and driving the stage was as good an excuse as anything. I let
Dobie worry about it, and I don’t reckon he knows yet that the stage
wasn’t stolen.”