ent on, "I've hesitated ter issue a warrant for
the man's arrest. I concluded that before goin' to extreme measures I
should be wise ter take your advice. I'm here now for that purpose."

Kiddie smiled.

"My personal interest in him would be no excuse for your allowin' a
guilty man to go free and unpunished," he observed judicially. "If you
believe that Nick Undrell committed this burglary, then by all means
issue your warrant and have him arrested. There are circumstances in
the case, however, which do not seem to me to support your suspicions.
Let us examine them. You suspect Nick because he knew of the money and
where it was kept. He wasn't the only one who knew. Sanson T.
Wrangler had publicly boasted of his readiness to meet his liabilities,
and every man in the crowded saloon must have known just as much as
Nick. I allow that Nick's an old offender; but it ain't fair to
condemn him on mere supposition, simply because the victim in this case
is alleged to have been gagged by a man wearing a mask. I'm not saying
that Nick didn't do it, mind you; but you've got to prove that Jim
Thurston was lying when he said he saw Nick along at Three Crossings on
Sunday evening--a good seventy miles away from the scene of the crime."

Kiddie paused for a moment.

"Were Sanson's shirt-sleeves buttoned at the wrist, or were they rolled
up?" he asked abruptly.

"Rolled up t' the elbow," Isa answered quickly. "His arms was bare."

"And the bag or cloth, with the chloroform in it, was drawn down over
his hat, I suppose?" pursued Kiddie.

"No. His hat was hangin' up, back of the door. But you're right about
the bag. It was like a big nightcap. He'd pulled it off."

"You smelt the sickly sweet smell about the room when you entered, did
you, Isa?"

"Can't say as I did. Guess it had evaporated by then."

"Dare say," nodded Kiddie. "Y'see it was at least twelve hours
afterwards, and--say, now, don't you reckon twelve hours a precious
long time for a man to lie insensible after only one dose of
chloroform?"

"Dunno," said the sheriff, "I'm ignorant of the effects an' uses of
them outlandish drugs."

"And yet you imagine that Nick Undrell knew how to use it, or get hold
of a dose of it, even if he knew! Why, I don't figure that Nick ever
heard the name of the stuff--not havin' been in hospital, like Sanson
T. Wrangler. If you ask me, Isa, I don't believe there was any
chloroform within a day's ride of Laramie