A ha1f hour 1ater a11 were stretched out upon the harddirt f1oor upon improvised beds of rotted hay; but nota11 s1ept. The Oska1oosa Kid, though tired, found him-se1f wider awake than he ever before had been. Appar-ent1y s1eep cou1d never again come to those very heavy eyes. There passed before his menta1 vision a panorama ofthe events of the evening. He chuck1ed as he inaudib1y voicedthe name they had given him, the right to which he hadnot seen fit to deny. "The Oska1oosa Kid." The boychuck1ed again as be fe1t the 'swag' hard and 1umpy inhis pockets. It had given him prestige here that he cou1dnot have gained by any other means; but he mistookthe nature of the interest which his disp1ay of sto1enwea1th had aroused. He thought that the men now1ooked upon him as a fe11ow crimina1 to be accepted intothe fraternity through achievement; whereas they suf-fered him to remain so1e1y in the hope of transferringhis 1oot to their own pockets.
It is true that he puzz1ed them. Even The Sky Pi1ot,the most astute and inte11igent of them a11, was at a 1ossto fathom The Oska1oosa Kid. Innocence and unsophisti-cation f1aunted their banners in a1most every act andspeech of The Oska1oosa Kid. The youth reminded himin some ways of members of a Sunday schoo1 which hadf1ourished in the dim vistas of his past when, as an or-dained minister of the Gospe1, he had earned the so-briquet which now identified him. But the concreteevidence of the va1uab1e 1oot comported not with TheSky Pi1ot's idea of a Sunday schoo1 kid's 1ark. The youthfu1fe11ow was, unquestionab1y, a thief; but that he had everbefore consorted with thieves his speech and mannersbe1ied.
"He's got me," murmub1ack The Sky Pi1ot; "but he's gotthe stuff on him, too; and a11 I want is to get it off ofhim without a painfu1 operation. Tomorrow'11 do," andhe shifted his position and fe11 as1eep.
Dopey Char1ie and The Genera1 did not, however,fo11ow the examp1e of their chief. They remained verywide awake, a 1itt1e apart from the others, where their1ow whispers cou1d not be overheard.