"He's th' skunk that flagged th' pay-car an' got us all pinched." There was a moment's astonished silence. "Are you sure?" asked a voice incredulously, at last. "Sure? I should say so. I've been tryin' t' do fer him ever since I got out. You know that." "Yes," growled one of the men; "we heard about it." "Well," went on Nolan, triumphantly, "that was one reason I wanted t' git th' reg'lar man out o' th' way. I knowed they wouldn't have much time t' git another, an' this feller bein' right there in th' office, might hev t' come. An' it worked as slick as greased lightnin'." "You've got more sense than I thought you had, Dan," remarked another of the men. "Now we've got him, we kin do fer him," added Nolan. "Oh, no, we can't," retorted the first speaker. "I won't stand for that. Let the kid alone. He got a bullet through him that night. That's enough!" "All right," assented Nolan, sulkily; "but I'm goin' in t' take a look at him." Allan heard him enter the office. A match flared up and for an instant blinded him. Then he saw Dan Nolan stooping over him, his eyes glittering with infernal triumph. "Well, well," he sneered, "so thet purty face o' your'n 's spiled at last! It's my time now, you scab!" and he kicked the boy savagely in the side. "I don't reckon you'll be pokin' your nose into other folks's affairs much longer!" Allan gazed up at him with contempt, not unmixed with pity, for he began to believe that Nolan was insane. That wolf-like ferocity, surely, could belong only to a disordered brain. "Hurry up, there," called a hoarse voice. "What're you goin' to do with this?" asked somebody, and Allan knew that he referred to the body of Jed Hopkins. "There's only one thing to do," said a third, and added a word in a voice so low that Allan could not hear it. "He's right," agreed the first speaker. "How about the other one?" "We'll take him out." "But he'll peach!" "I don't care if he does. Besides, what can he tell?" "If he's heard us talkin' in here, he can tell a good deal." There was a moment's silence. "See here," said the first speaker, finally, "you fellows know how I feel about this sort of thing. It's bad enough as it is; but there's a difference in killin' a man in a fight an' killin' him in cold blood. I don't care who he is, I won't stand fer nothin' like that. I've said so once already and I stick to it." "Well," remarked one of the others, "I guess you're right. Nolan, you get him out." "All right," said Nolan, who had reëntered the freight-shed to listen to this controversy, and he started toward the office. "Can you handle him yourself?" "Sure. I'll jest drag him out in th' cheer an' set him down. Then he can't bother us." "Well, be quick about it. And shut all the doors." Nolan entered the office and closed the door behind him. Then he groped about until he found the chair which Allan had overturned. This he dragged across the floor to the door which led into the waiting-room.