"Don't talk about that here," and the broker flashed a significant glance at Matt.
"All right," agreed Newt. "Suppose we let this Motor Matt, as you call him, go free? We don't want him around, anyhow."
"Go free?" cried Murgatroyd. "I'll catch myself doing that! I owe him something," and here a demoniacal look crept into the broker's eyes, "and I guess, as my old friend Siwash used to say, I'll take advantage of this opportunity and 'saw off' with him."
This threat, however, did not make Matt feel at all uncomfortable. He had in his hands the material necessary to play off one of these men against the other. Out of this might come a good deal of benefit to himself, and much good for Newt Prebbles. In case he did not succeed in this plan, there was McGlory and Ping yet to be heard from. If they had safely escaped the Tin Cup men, it would not be long before they gained the mouth of Burnt Creek and played their part in events to come.
Just then Matt felt like congratulating himself on having been made a prisoner. Such a position gave him the advantage of being impartial in the hostility he was about to incite between his captors.
"I'm not going to stand around and let you be rough with him," asserted Newt, finishing his dressing and taking another drink from the bottle.
"Nobody asked you to stand around," said Murgatroyd. "When I'm ready to get rough, you can go down to the river and stay there till I'm through."
Considering what he himself had done toward Matt's capture, Newt's stand was hardly consistent.
"I'll tell you," and, with that, Murgatroyd went on to relate the number of times his trail had crossed Matt's, and the circumstances.
Newt's eyes widened as the recital proceeded, and when the end was reached it found him moody and preoccupied.
"From all that," went on Murgatroyd, "you can see just how much I am in Motor Matt's debt."
"He saved my life," said Newt doggedly, "and I'm not going to let you be rough with him."
"Don't make a fool of yourself, Newt," scowled Murgatroyd.
"He did me a good turn," insisted the other, "and I'm not going to let him get the worst of this."
"Sit me up in a chair, can't you?" asked Matt. "I want to talk a little, and I'm not very comfortable, lying here like this."