Chapter
3
SUSPICIONSAS THE STAGE SWIRLED through the dusty street of Hendersville an hour later and drew up before The Donovan House the loiterers about the hotel and the saloons gathered about it for the news and the gossip from the outer world. Gum Smith, sheriff, was among them.
"Stuck up again, Gum, at the gap," the driver called to him. "They bored Mack."
Mary Donovan and the little old gentleman were assisting the messenger from the stage, though he protested that he was all right and required no assistance. As the woman's eyes alighted upon the sheriff, she turned upon him, her arms akimbo.
"Sure, yese a fine spicimin uv a sheriff, Gum Smith, that ye are-not!" she yelled in a voice that could be heard the length of the single street. "Three holdups in the two months right under
