The reason for this was that the sheriff was beginning to turn over
certain rather vexing questions in his mind. Suppose, for instance, Jose
should really have made his escape, impossible as that feat appeared,
what definite, tangible proof had he that the crop-eared bandit had
really been harbored by Gallito? Only some vague statements made by a
woman to Hanson, a woman who thought that she had overheard a
conversation or several conversations between Gallito and Bob Flick.
There had undoubtedly been some one, some one whose interest it was not
to be caught, as the events of the previous night showed, but the
explanation they had all given, Flick, Gallito, Hugh, Seagreave and the
women, had struck the sheriff as extremely plausible, far more
plausible, in fact, than Hanson's story that Crop-eared Jose had been
secreted for months at a time in Gallito's cabin.
The explanation which Gallito and all of his group had given was this. A
younger brother of Gallito, Pedro by name, had been visiting him for
some time. This youth had led a somewhat irregular life both in Spain
and in this country, and had become involved in several more or less
serious affairs; more, so Gallito averred, from a certain wildness and
recklessness of nature than from any criminal instincts. Several of his
companions had been arrested and, fearing that he would be also, he had
fled to Colina and begged Gallito to shelter him until it was safe for
him to go to work in one of the mines.
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