They had reached the place of the
hold-up a full two hours after Silent's crew departed; and the fireman
and engineer had been working frantically during the interim to clean
out the soaked fire box and get up steam again. Tex looked at the two
dead bodies, spoke to the conductor, and then cut short the voluble
explanations of a score of passengers by turning his horse and riding
away, followed by Dan. All that day he was gloomily silent. It was a
shrewd blow at his reputation, for the outlaws had actually carried
out the robbery while he was on their trail. Not till they came out of
the horse-shed after stabling their horses did he speak freely.
"Dan," he said, "do you know anything about Sheriff Gus Morris?"
"No"
"Then listen to this and salt every word away. I'm an officer of the
law, but I won't tell that to Morris. I hope he doesn't know me. If he
does it will spoil our game. I am almost certain he is playing a close
hand with the lone riders. I'll wager he'd rather see a stick of
dynamite than a marshal. Remember when we get in that place that we're
not after Jim Silent or any one else. We're simply travelling cowboys.
No questions. I expect to learn something about the location of
Silent's gang while we're here, but we'll never find out except by
hints and chance remarks.
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