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