The table was cleared, the waiters set out the food,
and the boys stood back to give Ted and the boy "room to swell," as Bud
expressed it. The way they tucked into the good things was a caution.
After their hunger was satisfied and the waiters had restored order to
the table, Ted began the story of his adventures since he had let Bud
out of the automobile. As he talked, Stella wooed the small boy to her
side, and listened to the story with her arm around his shoulder, and
long before it was done Scrub was her worshiper forever.
Chief Desmond listened with close attention, and when Ted finished and
exhibited the bill of the Green River Bank, which he examined carefully,
he said:
"Mr. Strong, you've beaten us all to it. I will go out to-morrow--I mean
to-day, for it's one o'clock now--and view the body myself. If it is, as
seems almost certain to be, Dude Wilcox, one of the most dangerous men
in the West is gone, but he has left behind for us to fight, and you to
find, the man Checkers. This bill is your clew to the gang, but it is a
counterfeit.
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