By this time the man whom Uncle Sam’s two clever sky detectives had trapped, showed signs of being almost in a state of collapse. Too late did he realize what a terrible mistake he had made when yielding to the blandishments of Slippery Slim Garrabrant, and acting under the belief that he could defy the law and get away with it.
“What’s the big idea, partner,” Perk was asking after he and Jack had fixed things so there was no possible chance for their prisoner to break away, and give them the laugh. “Do we jump off right now, or wait till mornin’, I’d like to know?”
“No hurry at all,” was the calm reply, “I want to go over our crate once more before we start that hop across to the California border, I’ve good reason to believe things are okay but a second overhauling will satisfy me better.”
“I kinder guess you won’t want me to slip over to this here town, an’ pick up a few fresh eggs, eh, boss?” and Perk’s voice actually took on a wheedling vein as he made this remark for if there was anything he dearly loved along the line of “eats” it was those same “fresh eggs.”
“Hardly think it would be wise,” he observed; “we don’t know the lay of the land for one thing—it might be this party has some backing among his neighbors, and we’d find ourselves in a hornets’ nest before we knew what was what. No, we can stick it out here the balance of the night, which is pretty well gone right now, and be off about sunrise.”
“There’s a lot more stuff around in here that’d burn right well,” insinuated Perk; “how ’bout another bit o’ fire—this night air feels some cool to me an’ ’sides, we’d have a blaze ready so’s to boil more coffee ’fore we kick off, eh, what, partner?”
“Please yourself so far as that goes, Perk, I reckon it wouldn’t feel at all bad to have some fire, as we must hang out here several hours. But don’t make any noise if you can help it. Besides, we ought to keep an eye out for trouble, no telling what this slick chap might work off on us.”
“Oh! we’ll one o’ us keep watch off’n on,” promised Perk, starting without any further delay to gather some fuel, and get a blaze going.
While he was thus engaged Jack took their prisoner in hand, and commenced to grill him. There was nothing of the dreaded “third degree” rough-house measures in what Jack attempted but he tried to show the man where his best interests lay.