"You don't happen to have seen a body of men, horsemen, passing this way
late last night or early this morning?" the sergeant queried.

"Nobody passed this way last night," the man answered in a colorless
voice. "Why?"

"A gold escort was robbed yesterday evening," the sergeant said, "and
we've got information that the robbers came this way."

The man turned slowly and studied the lower slopes of the distant range.
He saw, or seemed to see, something that interested him, and he stared
so long that the sergeant said impatiently, "Well, what about it?"

"I was just wondering," said the little man in the same colorless voice.
"I was just wondering if that was them."

"If who was?" the sergeant demanded. "Out with it, man, and don't keep
us waiting all day."

"Last night," said the man distinctly, "there was a fire up on those
ranges. It wasn't a bush-fire. I know a bush-fire. It was just a tiny
little glow from here. I thought it was a fire showing through the open
door of a hut, until I remembered that nobody lived up there. It didn't
last long; it must have burnt out in ten minutes or so, so I knew that
it was started by some traveller. It wasn't a camp-fire and they weren't
cooking anything."

"How do you know that?" the sergeant said quickly.

"How do I know that?" the little man repeated slowly. "It's easy enough.
The fire was only alight ten minutes at the most, and you can't cook
anything or boil a billy in that time, I know."

"The old chap's right," one of the troopers said in an undertone to his
superior.

The sergeant nodded. He turned again to the old prospector. "You're sure
you didn't see anyone pass this way?" he queried.

"No, I'm not sure," said the man. "I'm only saying that I didn't hear
anyone."

"What do you mean by saying you're not sure that you didn't see anyone?"
the sergeant asked curiously.

"When there's shadows in the trees," said the old man, "there's times
when you can't tell whether they're men or not. That's what I mean. I'm
only saying that I didn't hear anyone. I'd have heard horses."

"The man's a hatter," the sergeant remarked as the troop galloped off
towards the ranges. "As mad as a March hare."

The other grinned cheerfully. "Still there's a lot in what he said," he
answered. "Now that about the fire----"

"I wonder why they lighted it," the sergeant cut-in.

"Don't know," the other said. "What's the sense of worrying anyway?
We'll know soon enough. But don't you