“There wasn’t no chance to do nothing at first. They were in ’fore anybody knew anything. And maybe they didn’t work fast. Right down the line, scooping it up. No chance to do anything then. But I says to myself, ‘All righty, young fellows, you’ve got it all your own way now, but wait till you try to leave.’

“And I was as good as my word, you bet you. I runs right to the door after them and cut loose with the old firearm. I got that fellow just as he was stepping into the car. I bet you I’d of got more of them if I’d of had more cartridges, because it’s kind of hard shooting down like that, standing in the⁠—”

Noonan stopped the monologue by patting the old duffer’s back till his lungs were empty, telling him, “That certainly is fine. That certainly is fine.”

McGraw pulled the robe up over the dead man again and growled:

“Nobody can identify anybody. But with Jerry on it, it’s a cinch it was Whisper’s caper.”