"Reckon he's tellin' th' straight tale?" Gallagher ventured dubiously, with a back-flung jerk of his head to the building.
"Shore," answered the policeman. "'Twas just a bit o' lucky gammon I threw into him--I'd no idea he'd fall for it like he did. Yu're a witness of his admissions of being an accomplice o' these fellers. As a matter o' fact," he continued, with a sly grin, "I haven't seen either o' _them_ for well-nigh a month now. 'Twas Little Benny Parker wised me up 'bout what Shorty figured he was goin' to do for me.... He was down at th' post-office one mail day--quite a while ago, this is--an' these fellers was all outside together a-talkin'--Jules le Frambois along. Benny's only a little nipper, an' bein' on th' other side o' his horse, cinchin' up, I guess they didn't notice him. Some cute kid, Benny!"
He remained silent for a space, in deep thought.
"Barney," he said presently, "I'd like yore help in this business. Scotty Robbins ain't o' much account. He's a poor cur, he is. But Big George's some bad man. I've got his record from over th' Line. He's done two fives an' a three-year term for horse-stealin', an' I know for a fact, too, that he's a gun artist. He killed two men in a dirty mix-up at Los Barancedes, over in New Mexico, quite a while back. Th' Rurales well-nigh put th' kibosh on him, but somehow he beat 'em out. So, yu' see," he concluded with a whimsical smile, "it ain't exactly a one-man job--at night, too. That is, if yu're willin'?"
"Eyah! that I will, Sargint," the other answered bluntly and briefly. "I guess I know me duty as a law-abidin' man should." He had, in his brief acquaintance, formed a profound respect for the fearless man who sought his assistance.
"I know it's not exactly a civilian's end o' th' deal to get shoved into takin' unnecessary risks," Ellis went on. "If I had time I'd ride out to Buffalo Wallow an' get Nicholson--he's about due there, on patrol. But I haven't ... an' this lay's supposed to come off tomorrow night. Besides, I wanta go an' see Tucker. Pity old Boswell, th' J.P.'s, gone East. I'd a got yu' sworn in as a 'special.' So yu' see how it is," he ended simply.
"Eyah!" said Gallagher, with a grim heartiness; "don't yu' worry over nothin' son. My name's Barney Gallagher. I kin 'trail me coat' as good as me father or me grandfather ever did. Yu'll find I'm right there with th' goods."