Chapter XII: The Second Version

There were two versions of the capture of Sancho Red, as told by the remarkable Mr. Sanders. Perhaps this was because the little man, on his arrival at San Pedro, finding himself so easily and swiftly behind the steel and stone portals of the prison, was a bit confused.

He told a keeper, and later told the warden himself, that he was an honest man, and that, as such he had discovered Sancho Red at liberty and had simply decided to bring him back.

“You?” demanded Major Gracie.

“Me!”

The man was so small, so nervous, that there was a tragic humor in his claim. His crossed eyes glinted. He grinned.

“I had intended to kill him myself, but----”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” said the major.

“He had killed my brother,” said Sanders.

Gracie had led the little man almost straight to the warden’s office from the prison gate. In the warden’s mind now there repeated itself various details of that amazing message of warning and inquiry he had received that same morning from the detectives who had gone to Pahkaville. The detectives had stated that there were two men. True, they had sent but vague descriptions.

“And you took him single-handed?”

“Almost.”

“How do you mean, ‘almost?’”

“There was a friend who helped me.”

“Will you tell me his name?”

“Yes, sir. He told me to tell you his name was Daniel Craig.”

“Ah!”

The little man looked about him, made sure that there was none to overhear.

“He said--Mr. Craig did--that I could trust you and tell you the story as I have told it, and ask you to let it go at that.”

The warden nodded. He remembered the youth with the handkerchief over his face, remembered the clear eyes, remembered certain things his daughter had said about the man who had led the San Pedro revolt and then had defended her against a possible mob when the convicts were getting out of hand. And that was about all until they had brought in Red himself, trussed and gagged.

The version continued:

“But why this? Why the mule car?”

“I had no extradition papers,” said Sanders. “We--that is I didn’t want to muss with detectives. It would only have resulted in some one getting killed and in Sancho’s getting away.”

“You’ve almost killed him, yourself.”

“He’s in good condition. He’s tough. He’ll get over it.”

Sancho let out a roar. They had brought him into the prison office. He couldn’t stand, but his voice was strong--so strong that at first there was no telling what he said. Then he was shrieking murder, and asking them to let him go back--just for a moment--long enough to kill the blankety-blank and so-forth scoundrel who had brought him to this, Three Sevens!

“He thinks I’m Three Sevens,” suggested the little man, grinning.

“You lie----” and then more incoherency.

Sanders began to tremble, show nerves again. It had been a long strain. He was under a strain still. He said that he would go and water his mule, which was in great need of water.

Various other reports also had been coming into San Pedro from far and near. Major Gracie reviewed these reports in his mind all the time that he was hearing the words that this strange and shaky little volunteer shouted over the sudden uproar of Sancho Red. They bore Red away.

Not until Sancho Red was gone did Joan Gracie appear. She knew all about those reports her father had been getting--especially that last report of all from the detectives who had gone to Pahkaville. She also heard what the little man had to say about watering his mule.

A keeper just then came back to the office with a white smile. Sancho Red was making up for lost time in the matter of violence, the keeper said. Would the major come and give advice. The major hurried away.

Joan and the little man were alone.

“Where is he?” she asked.

“Who?”

“The man who managed this.”

“I--I--you mean----”

“You can speak openly to me. Quick! There’s no time to lose. I’m his friend.”

“He’s in the car.”

“There’s a posse going through the country all around the prison.”

“He knows it.”

“Why did he come so far?”

“He didn’t want to leave me alone with Sancho.”

“He could have wired for help.”

“We’ve been suspected all along the line for the past fifty miles.”

“What was his plan?”

“To wait till night and then ride away on the mule.”

“He’ll never make it.”

“You don’t know him, not the way I do--the way he caught old Red--gentled him as much as he could--kept me from killin’ him----” And herewith came the second version, the truth this time, from the start to the finish, even the fact that the little man was not named Sanders, but Jones.

He had changed his name because he had expected to kill or get killed, and didn’t want the name of Jones dishonored again. “He’s helped me a lot--has Mr. Craig. I don’t want him took.”

“Hurry,” said Joan. “Tell him that the chief danger’s outside the prison, not in. But he’ll know that.” She put a small fist against her lips, let herself go in thought. “Go back to the car,” she said. “Get word to him that everything’s all right. I’ll send a squad of men with orders to push the car into the prison yard.”

Mr. Sanders suspected a trick.

“I’d rather go to the pen myself,” he faltered. “If it wasn’t for him----”

“Can’t you see that I’m also his friend?”

“Yes, ma’am; but----”

She was still trying to formulate her plan while she was already getting the first part of it out. There were so many complications in the way of clear thinking--loyalty to Craig, loyalty to her father, and a whole flock of memories, a flock of hopes, too, perhaps, and both hopes and memories beating about like supernatural birds in the golden blaze of a new sunrise.

Then an old trusty--old Eddie Yarmouth, who himself was some sort of a living shadow of Craig--had opened the door, and looked in.

“This way, sir,” said Eddie, speaking to a visitor as yet unseen.

Joan looked up, some swift intuition informing her that a shadow had announced the coming event. Her breath was caught. Her heart was palpitant. Or was it merely the odd expression on Eddie Yarmouth’s face that caused her to feel like that? There had been a curious, haunted look on Eddie’s face. There still was, now, as Eddie stepped back to let the visitor pass. It was Craig himself.