He lifted a hand then, ignoring their exclamations, and began to smooth the thin hairs of his beard. “You know,” he said thoughtfully, “I’ve come a long way, looking for a wood exactly like the one you’ve got next door here. It would mean a great deal to me to own it. And how pleasant to have neighbors like yourselves! Now, understand, I wouldn’t cut down many of the trees. I’m no barbarian, you can see that. No, just a few. You wouldn’t find it different at all, really.” He gestured with his long, white fingers and smiled, his face crinkling pleasantly. “We’d be good friends, I think. Why, the little girl and I, we’re friends already. It would be a great relief to see her safely home again, wouldn’t it?” He clicked his tongue and frowned. “Dreadful thing, kidnapping. Isn’t it fortunate that I was a witness! Why, without me, you might never have heard a word. They’re rough country people, the ones that took her. There’s just no telling what illiterates like that might do. Yes,” he sighed, lifting his eyebrows and smiling again, “it looks as if I’m the only person in the whole world who knows where to find her.”

And then the man in the yellow suit sat forward. His long face took on a hard expression. “Now, I don’t have to spell things out for people like yourselves. Some types one comes across can’t seem to cut their way through any problem, and that does make things difficult. But you, I don’t have to explain the situation to you. I’ve got what you want, and you’ve got what I want. Of course, you might find that child without me, but…you might not find her in time. So: I want the wood and you want the child. It’s a trade. A simple, clear-cut trade.”

He looked around at the three shocked faces, and as if he were seeing nothing there but calm agreement, he smiled delightedly and rubbed his hands together. “Done and done,” he said. “I knew right away, I said to myself, ‘Now here is a group of intelligent, reasonable people!’ I’m seldom wrong as a judge of character. Very seldom disappointed. So! All that remains is to write it up on paper, giving me the wood, and to sign it. It’s best, don’t you agree, to keep things legal and tidy. The rest is easy. Nothing to it. You go for your local constable, and he and I ride out and bring back the child and the criminals. No—oh, no, Mr. Foster—I understand your concern, but you mustn’t come along. We’ll do this business my way. There now! Your terrible ordeal is as good as over, isn’t it? I’m so thankful I was here to help you out!”

16

The constable was fat, and he was sleepy. He wheezed when he spoke. And he spoke quite a bit as they started off, he and the man in the yellow suit. “First they roust me out of bed in the middle of the night, after I been out since sun-up looking for that child, and now I s’pose you’re going to try to run me all the way,” he said sourly. “I got to tell you this horse of mine is none too strong. I don’t have to hurry her as a rule, so most of the time it don’t matter. Seems to me we could’ve waited till dawn, anyway.”