showing, and--"

"Also," said Tish, cutting in sternly, "you took away my revolver, and
left us helpless last night, and in peril of wild beasts."

"Tourists ain't allowed to carry guns."

He attempted to look injured, but Tish ignored him.

"Therefore," she said, "if I am not to send you back--which I have been
considering all day, as I've put up a tent myself before this, and you
are only an extra mouth to feed, which, as we are one ham short, is
inconvenient--you will have to justify my keeping you."

"If you will just show me once about them gems, Miss Tish--" he began.

But Tish cut him off. "No," she said firmly, "you are too casual about
cooking. And you are no dish-washer. Setting a plate in a river and
letting the current wash it may satisfy cow-punchers. It doesn't go with
me. The point is this: You know all about the holdup that is going to
take place. Don't lie. I know you know. Now, you take us there and tell
us all you know about it."

He scratched his head reflectively. "I'll tell you," he said. "I'm a
slow thinker. Give me about twenty minutes on it, will you? It's a sort
of secret, and there's different ways of looking at it."

Tish took out her watch. "Twenty minutes," she said. "Start thinking
now."