hey
had all been released that morning."

He stopped, seemed to be weighing his words, then continued, speaking
very slowly.

"Let me tell you first some things I can't testify to, couple of things
that I figure went wrong with their plans.

"One of Colonel Hickock's men was on the porch to greet Mr. Cumshaw and
he recognized the Bonneys. That was lucky; otherwise we might still be
lookin' and wonderin' who did the shootin', which might not have been
good for New Texas."

He cocked an eyebrow and I nodded. The Solar League, in similar cases,
had regarded such planetary governments as due for change without notice
and had promptly made the change.

"Number two," Captain Nelson continued, "that AA-shot which hit their
aircar. I don't think they intended to land at the jail--it was just
sort of a reserve hiding-hole. But because they'd been hit, they had to
land. And they'd been slowed down so much that they couldn't dispose of
the evidence before the Colonel's boys were tappin' on the door 'n'
askin', couldn't they come in."

"I gather the Colonel's task-force was becoming insistent," I prompted
him.

The big Ranger grinned. "Now we're on things I can testify to.

"When I got there, what had been the cell-block was on fire, and they
were trying to defend the mayor's office and the warden's office. These
Bonneys gave me the line that they'd been witnesses to the killing of
Mr. Cumshaw by Colonel Hickock and that the Hickock outfit was trying to
rub them out to keep them from testifying. I just laughed and started to
walk out. Finally, they confessed that they'd shot Mr. Cumshaw, but they
claimed it was right of action against political malfeasance. When they
did that, I had to take them in."

"They confessed to you, before you arrested them?" I wanted to be sure
of that point.

"That's right. I'm going to testify to that, Monday, when the trial is
held. And that ain't all: we got their fingerprints off the car, off the
gun, off some shells still in the clip, and we have the gun identified
to the shells that killed Mr. Cumshaw. We got their confession fully
corroborated."

I asked him if he'd give Mr. Parros a complete statement of what he'd
seen and heard at Bonneyville. He was more than willing and I suggested
that they go into Parros' office, where they'd be undisturbed. The
Ranger and my Intelligence man got up and took a bottle of superbourbon
with them. As they were leaving, Nelson turned to Hoddy, who