"Not him," shrugged Jessup, though he did lower his voice a trifle. "The up train's due in less than half an hour, an' Pop's gettin' the mail-bag ready. That means readin' all the post-cards twice at least, an' makin' out all he can through the envelopes, if the paper's thin enough. I often wondered why he didn't go the whole hog an' have a kettle ready to steam the flaps open, he seems to get so much pleasure out of other people's business."
Stratton chuckled. This suited him perfectly up to a certain point. He pulled the letter out of his shirt and was pleased to see that none of the writing was visible. Then he displayed the face of the envelope to his companion.
Bud's eyes widened. "Whew!" he whistled. "That sure looks like business. What's up, Buck? Can't yuh tell a man?"
"I will on the way back; no time just now. Let's go in."
He led the way into the store and walked down to where Daggett was slowly sorting a small pile of letters and post-cards.
"Hello, Pop!" he greeted. "Looks like I was just in time."
The old man peered over the tops of his spectacles. "Yuh be, if yuh want to catch the up-mail," he nodded. "Where's it to?"
He took the letter from Stratton's extended hand and studied it with frank interest.
"Jim Hardenberg!" he commented. "Wal! Wal! Friend of yores, eh?"
"Oh, I don't know as you'd hardly call him that," evaded Stratton. "Haven't seen him in over two years, I reckon."
Pop waited expectantly, but no further information was forthcoming. He eyed the letter curiously, manoeuvering as if by accident to hold it up against the light. He even tried, by obvious methods, to get rid of the two punchers, but they persisted in hanging around until at length the near approach of the train-hour forced the old man to drop the letter into the mail-bag with the others and snap the lock. On the plea of seeing whether their package had come, both Stratton and Jessup escorted him over to the station platform and did not quit his side until the train had departed, carrying the mail-sack with it.
There were a few odds and ends of mail for the Shoe-Bar, but no parcel. When this became certain, Bud got his horse and the two mounted in front of the store.
"By gee!" exclaimed Pop suddenly as they were on the point of riding off. "I clean forgot to tell yuh. They got blackleg over to the T-T's."