“I ain’t forgot they was both wanted by the police when they joined up with us! As I said before, if it hadn’t been that she was buried under the freak tent, she’d have skipped with Nita and Dave. You roped Nita in on your little scheme, didn’t you, because she’d had more experience cracking safes than you or the boy? That’s right, ain’t it?” the old lady demanded fiercely of Sally. Sally shrank from her in horror, but the midget, still perched on her shoulder, patted her cheeks reassuringly. “No, no! I didn’t even tell David where the safe was! I didn’t! David didn’t do it! He couldn’t! David’s good! He’s the best man in the world!” “Then where is he?” Mrs. Bybee screamed. “Why did he blow? I left him to guard the train, didn’t I? And he ain’t here, is he? He wasn’t here when we got back from the carnival lot after the tents was raised. If he’s so damned good, why did he blow with Nita and this Steve you’ve made up out of your head?” “Now, now, Mother,” Pop Bybee soothed her, but his eyes were troubled and suspicious. “Reckon we’d better notify the police, folks. I hate to call in the law. I’ve always said I was the law of this outfit, but I suppose if I’ve been harboring thieves I’ll have to get the help of the law to track ’em down. Ben, you and Chuck beat it down the tracks to the police station and give ’em a description of Nita and Dave and this Steve person, as much as Sally’s been able to tell us anyway—” “Please, Mr. Bybee!” Sally ran to the showman and seized both his hands in hers. “Please don’t set the police on David! I know he’s innocent! There’s some reason why he isn’t here—a good reason! But he didn’t have anything to do with the robbery. I know that! But if you tell the police he’s been with the carnival they’ll find him somehow and put him in jail on those other charges—and me, too! It doesn’t matter about me, but I couldn’t live if David was put in jail on my account! Oh, please! You’ve been so good to us!” And she went suddenly on her knees to him, her face upraised in an agony of appeal. Pop Bybee looked down upon Sally’s agonized face with troubled indecision in his bright blue eyes. He tried to lift her to her feet, but her arms were locked about his knees. The midget had scrambled from Sally’s shoulder to the floor of the car and as Bybee hesitated, her tiny fists beat upon his right leg for attention. “You’re not going to break your promise to Sally, are you, Mr. Bybee?” the tiny voice piped shrilly. “You told her and the boy you’d protect them. She’s told you the truth. Don’t you know truth when you hear it? I always knew Nita was a crook. She never saw a policeman or a constable or a sheriff without turning white as a ghost. She joined up with the carnival just to learn the lay of the land and tip off her accomplice—this Steve person—where to find the money. That’s why she was spying on Mrs. Bybee that day in Stanton. Listen to me!”