atisfaction.

"Go on, let's have the yarn," someone said impatiently, and there was a
chorus of assent from the others.

"This is what happened," Davy went on. "The Rider and his mate--Eustace,
as I believe--came into the hut to settle the sub-inspector. As a blind
they put handcuffs on the old man and were going to do the same with
Durham when he, finding himself cornered again, made a fight for it. One
of the chaps fired, meaning to finish him, but missed and hit the old
man instead. Then, in the fight, the lamp was upset and the place in a
blaze. Durham got a crack on the head and staggered outside, and before
the others could get the old man out of the place the troopers arrived,
and they had to bolt to save their own skins. That is pretty much what
Conlon told me was in the sub-inspector's report. It was after hearing
it I suspected the old chap."

The group was silent as Davy ceased.

"You've got the bulge on us this time," one of them remarked presently.
"Why didn't you tell the yarn before?"

"Because it was told to me in confidence--I knew Conlon years ago in the
South. But now this other thing's happened it makes all the difference,
doesn't it?"

"But how about the money, Davy?" Gale asked. "That had gone, you know; I
saw the place where it had been dug up."

"Did you? You saw a hole in the ground; but how do you know the money
was ever in it? And how could two chaps carry away a lot of loose bags
of money on horseback?"

"That's so," one of the group cried. "I reckon Davy's on the right track
this time."

"Anyway, so far as the money is concerned, only those who can afford to
lose have been robbed. It won't break the Bank and old Dudgeon can stand
it," Gale observed.

"But there's murder in the case now. That counts more than money. It
means hanging for someone," Davy replied.

"Or ought to--if the police can catch him," Gale said, as he left the
group and went on to Soden's bar, where he found Allnut and Johnson
carrying on an animated discussion with the hotelkeeper on the one
topic.

"Have you heard the latest?" he inquired as he joined them.

"What's that? A clue? Have the police got a clue?" Soden exclaimed.

"There's a clue--of a sort, but the police haven't got it. Davy Freeman
has been giving us a new theory. He says old Dudgeon's at the back of it
all."

"I'm not sure he's far wrong, Mr. Gale, to tell you the truth," Soden
said in his slow manner. "They say funny things about the