"A good boy, too, Neil was once. We used to punch together on the
Hashknife. A straight-up rider, the kind a fellow wants when Old
Man Trouble comes knocking at the door. Well, I reckon he's a
miscreant now, all right."

"They knew YOU--at least two of them did."

"I've been pirootin' around this country, boy and man, for
fifteen years. I ain't responsible for every yellow dog that
knows me," he drawled.

"And I noticed that when you told them not to rob the children
and not to touch me they did as you said."

"Hypnotism," he suggested, with a smile.

"So, not being a child, I put two and two together and draw an
inference."

He seemed to be struggling with his mirth. "I see you do. Well,
ma'am, I've been most everything since I hit the West, but this
is the first time I've been taken for a train robber."

"I didn't say that," she cried quickly.

"I think you mentioned an inference." The low laugh welled out of
him and broke in his face. "I've been busy on one, too. It's a
heap nearer the truth than yours, Miss Mackenzie."

Her startled eyes and the swift movement of her hand toward her