“The joke is going to be on you, yet, Ned Saulsby,” he said, “for you’ll find you’re going to part with your land and not get much of a price for it in the end. You had your chance to sell out fair, and didn’t; now you’ll see that there are other ways. That friend of mine was as straight as a string. It would take a smarter man than he was to fool Harvey Tarreth.”
“He was so crooked he could hide behind a corkscrew,” returned the Captain with spirit. “And he has fooled you once, and will likely fool you again. The first time he got you into jail: look out it isn’t the penitentiary you go to after his next visit. He helped to get you out of one just as generously as he will help you out of the other.”
“He felt real bad about my being in jail,” Jarreth maintained heatedly, his temper evidently becoming more and more ruffled.
“You’ve heard from him then?” inquired Captain Saulsby quickly. “And why didn’t you tell that to the people who are still looking for him?”
“It’s not my way to get a friend into trouble,” was the answer. “Yes, I heard from him and he sent me a box of cigars. Have one?”
