promised a little excitement after the wearing monotony of the
winter--were still seeking José, who seemed to have vanished in some
manner only to be explained as miraculous.

Gallito, Bob Flick, Pearl and Hugh, Mrs. Nitschkan and Mrs. Thomas had
all been taken to the village hotel and were there under guard, while
Seagreave, also under guard, was permitted to remain temporarily, at
least, in his cabin.

The reason for this was that the sheriff was beginning to turn over
certain rather vexing questions in his mind. Suppose, for instance, José
should really have made his escape, impossible as that feat appeared,
what definite, tangible proof had he that the crop-eared bandit had
really been harbored by Gallito? Only some vague statements made by a
woman to Hanson, a woman who thought that she had overheard a
conversation or several conversations between Gallito and Bob Flick.
There had undoubtedly been some one, some one whose interest it was not
to be caught, as the events of the previous night showed, but the
explanation they had all given, Flick, Gallito, Hugh, Seagreave and the
women, had struck the sheriff as extremely plausible, far more
plausible, in fact, than Hanson's story that Crop-eared José had been
secreted for months at a time in Gallito's cabin.

The explanation which Gallito and all of his group had given was this. A
younger brother of Gallito, Pedro by name, had been visiting him for
some time. This youth had led a somewhat irregular life both in Spain
and in this country, and had become involved in several more or less
serious affairs; more, so Gallito averred, from a certain wildness and
recklessness of nature than from any criminal instincts. Several of his
companions had been arrested and, fearing that he would be also, he had