Julia brewed a fresh pot of tea, and they sat down in a circle to recover themselves. But peace of mind restored them quicker than the tea. Bull Bracker was lying quiet over beyond the fire. Wully Wallace lay at McNab’s back with his head on his paw, still keeping a watchful eye on the prisoner.
“A case like this,” said Brinklow, “is like one of these new jig-saw puzzles. When you open the box you got a whole lot of funny-shaped pieces that don’t seem to bear no relation to each other. You don’t even know what kind of lookin’ picture you got to make. Then bye and bye maybe two pieces fit together, and two more, and if you have luck they join up. And so it goes. And when all your pieces fits together with none left over, there’s the picture!” He took a swallow of tea.
“This is what happen
