"It seems
sound and reasonable. The extraordinary precautions taken by Roon and
Paul to prevent identification, dead or alive, supports your whimsey,
as you call it. The thing that puzzles me, however, is the singular
failure of the two men to defend themselves. They were armed, yet
neither fired a shot. You would think that when they found themselves
in a tight place, such as you suggest, their first impulse would be to
shoot."
"Well," mused O'Dowd, squinting his eyes in thought, "there's
something in that. It doesn't seem reasonable that they'd run like
whiteheads with guns in--By Jove, here's a new thought!" His eyes
glistened with boyish elation. "They had delivered their message,--
we'll assume that much, of course,--and were walking back to their
horses when they were ordered to halt by some one hidden in the brush
at the roadside. You can't very well succeed in hitting a man if you
can't see him at all, so they made a dash for it instead of wasting
time in shooting at the air. What's more, they may have anticipated
the very thing that happened: they were prepared for treachery. Their
only chance lay in getting safely into their saddles. Oh, I am a good
romancer! I should be writing dime novels instead of living the
respectable life I do.
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