For he found himself wondering what Leather had done, and why he had done it; whether he was a very bad man; and gradually found his head getting into quite a muddle of conflicting surmises.
"I wish I hadn't let him think I was suspicious," he said to himself.
"He jumped at it directly.

I suppose I showed it pretty plainly.

But no wonder! Any one would have felt as I did.

To hand over one's gun to a convict, and give him a chance to point it at you and say, `Now then, hand over that powder flask and that belt and all your wads.' Of course, so that he could go off--bush-ranging, don't they call it?
Why, it seemed a mad thing to do.
"And yet I did it," said Nic to himself, after a thoughtful pause; "and he didn't run off.

Why, he acted just as a gentleman would under the circumstances.