"

"He has."

"That is his advantage, but where does ours come in?"

"We have his identity."

"He will change."

"So will we, but I will know that fellow under any cover. He will not
know us unless we have forgotten how to do it."

"It is easy for us to change."

"You bet; he fell to us in our best role."

"He did."

"But how did he get on to us at all?"

"I must have time to think that out, and mark my words: he is a
shadower. He got his points down well. I am a shadower; I will be on his
track, and the next time I will have my points down well. Whatever
happens, that fellow must be put away."

"He is a terror."

"He is, but he had it all his own way this time. We were groping in the
dark, but he had a good flashlight on us."

"He did."

"Boys, we have had our ups and downs before. We have been in bad holes,
but we always managed to get out. We have had better men than this young
fellow on our track, and we have always got the best of them in the end.
Remember, we have for years baffled the best officers in the United
States. We have no reason to be discouraged. This is only an incident;
we know they are not down to facts, and before they get there we will
get in some of our good work."

"You bet! How will we start in?"

"Our first object will be to identify every man who is in this raid
against us. When we succeed then we will know just what to do."

"Then we know how to employ our time until Redalli arrives in town."

"Yes."

"And we will lay everything before him. In the meantime there is no
danger."

"Unless he may get on to Wadleigh. How much did he learn from that
fellow?"

"I can give it to you that he learned nothing, for Wadleigh said
nothing; it was a lucky escape."

"You have seen Wadleigh?"

"Yes, and he had something to tell me. I did not have time to talk with
him because I had this scheme on hand with that fellow. Oh, I only wish
I had known his game, and I would have laid a different course. He had
it all his own way, as I said, when we thought we had it ours. It would
have been a big thing, however, if our little trick of to-night had not
miscarried. We would have had that chap in a hole that only a full
confession would have gotten him out of, and then it is doubtful if we
would have let him off alive."

Oscar had overheard enough, and he did not give the rascals the credit
he would have done had they suspected his little dodge in listening to
what they had to say af