stirrups? Between believing in such a strange coincidence and that
you did it, I'll be hanged if I don't believe you did it."

"I don't blame you," said Ranson. "What can I do to set your mind at
rest?"

"Well, tell me exactly what persons knew that you meant to hold up
the stage."

"Curtis and Crosby; no one else."

"Not even Cahill?"

"No, Cahill came in just before I said I would stop the stage, but I
remember particularly that before I spoke I waited for him to get
back to the exchange."

"And Crosby tells me," continued Carr, "that the instant you had gone
he looked into the exchange and saw Cahill at the farthest corner
from the door. He could have heard nothing."

"If you ask me, I think you've begun at the wrong end," said Ranson.
"If I were looking for the Red Rider I'd search for him in Kiowa
City."

"Why?"

"Because, at this end no one but a few officers knew that the
paymaster was coming, while in Kiowa everybody in the town knew it,
for they saw him start. It would be very easy for one of those