inez' mind flashed back to the scene in Vorse's saloon when Gordon
had showed such sudden emotion at the engineer's name and his
enigmatical reference to some event in the past. That was it!
Something which had occurred thirty years ago, probably something
crooked. Men committed deeds in those early days that they would now
like to forget. He, Martinez, would look into the matter.

Sorenson passed out of sight, and Weir likewise proceeded on his way.
Thereupon the lawyer sauntered over to the court house, where
presently he became engrossed in a pile of tomes in the register's
office. As examining records is a part of a lawyer's regular work, it
never excites curiosity or arouses suspicion.

That same evening Martinez perceived Vorse enter Sorenson's office.
Vorse, he recalled, had been included in the engineer's threatening
remarks to Gordon. Shortly thereafter Gordon himself ambled along the
street and passed through the door. Last of all, Burkhardt, a short,
fleshy, bearded man, went into the building. The vultures of San
Mateo, as he secretly called them, had flocked together for
conference. Presently Martinez strolled by the office, outwardly
displaying no interest in the structure but furtively seeking to catch
a glimpse of the interior through a crack of the drawn shade. But in
this he was unsuccessful.

Of one thing he was certain, however. His prolonged examination of the
county records had revealed an old bill of sale of a ranch and several
herds of cattle from one Joseph Weir to Sorenson, Vorse, Gordon and
Burkhardt. He had placed his finger on the link connecting the
engineer with these men, the entire four, as this old bill of sale
thus recorded showed the intimate though unexpressed partnership of
the men, which was common knowledge over the country; and intuition
told him also that this private assembly of the quartette quickly on
Sorenson's return home had its inspiration in the new manager of the
dam.

Martinez determined to continue his investigations. Events might yet
prove that it would have been much better for the cattleman to have
given him the political nomination. Truly, it was possible. In any
case, it would do no harm to have "something on" Sorenson and the
others, these rulers of San Mateo. And there was the opposite side of
the affair--Weir's side; so it looked as if there might be profit
either way.

* * * * *

The four men sitting in the ra