“He works for Tucker Bly.  So he said.  And he told me about the airplane that had been lost, across the line.  His brother had found it.”

“And you went to see his brother?”

“His brother came to see me.  The kid told him I was—­interested.”

“You went after the flying machine when?  Over two weeks ago, eh?  And you were gone—­I see.  Approximately two days and two nights—­nearer three days.  Who answered the telephone while you were gone?  It happens that I have not missed calling you every night; did the man have a cold?”

“I—­I don’t know.  I didn’t know anybody—­” Johnny frowned.  It would be just as well, he felt, to keep Mary V out of it.

“You didn’t know the ’phone was answered in your absence.  Well, it was.  By a man with a bad cold, who represented himself to be you.  Did you notice any signs of any one being there while you were gone?”

“N-no, I can’t say I did.  Well, the string was tied different on the door, but I didn’t think much about that.”

“No—­you wouldn’t think much about that.”  Sudden’s tone made a mental lash of the words.  “You had your own affairs to think about.  You were merely being—­paid to think of my affairs.”

“Yes, sir—­that’s the kind of a hound I’ve been.”

Johnny’s abject tone—­he who had been so high-chested in the past—­may have had its effect upon the boss.  When Sudden spoke again his voice was almost kind, which is unusual, surely, for a man who has been robbed.

“Well, I shall have to investigate those greasers, I think.  It looks to me as though they had used that flying machine for a bait to get you out of the way, and that looks to me too clever for greasers.  It looks to me as though some one knew what bait you would jump at the quickest, young man.  Do some thinking along those lines, will you?  The horses are gone; but there might be some slight satisfaction in catching the thieves.”

“Yes, sir.  What shall I do to-morrow?  Am I fired, or what?”

“You are—­what!” Sudden was sarcastic again.  “I believe, since you have been doing pretty much as you please down there, I shall expect you to go on doing as you please.  I don’t see how you are going to do any more damage than you have already done.  On the other hand, I don’t see how you are going to do much good—­unless I could take those horses out of your hide!”

Johnny stared round-eyed at the ’phone, even after Sudden had hung up his receiver.

“Good golly!” he muttered, with a faint return of his normal spirit.  “Old Sudden oughta been a lawyer.”  Then he went back to holding his jaws in two spread palms, and brooding over the trouble he was in.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

“WE FLY SOUTH”

Johnny did a great deal of thinking along the line suggested by old Sudden.  At first he thought merely how groundless was any suspicion that the airplane was in any way connected with the horse-stealing, except that it might justly be accused of contributing to his negligence.  Even so, Johnny could not see how one man could possibly protect the whole of Sinkhole range from thieves.  He could have been on his guard, could have noticed when the first horses were missing, and notified Sudden at once.  That, of course, was what had been expected of him.