ing material trains. They
found a single survivor of the thirteen men who tried to destroy us and
the Nadia. It was Eckstein, North's secretary, and before he died he
amply confirmed all of our guesses. They had plotted to have you quarrel
with Ford. Ford had bought his half of the Little Alicia without any
prompting, but from that as a starting point the entire scheme was
worked up. The MacMorroghs' bookkeeper, a man named Merriam--who is at
present in Copah, and whose deposition I have had taken before a justice
of the peace--was detailed to win Frisbie over to the change of
route--no difficult thing, since the change was for the better. But
Merriam's part was chiefly to keep Frisbie from finding out anything
about Ford's mine; which he did. Am I making it clear?"

The president bowed his head.

"Then, when you came West on your inspection trip, the trap was sprung.
You were told that Ford had been doing a dishonorable thing, and you
were urged to come over here and see for yourself. To make sure that
there should be no slips, Penfield was sent with you, ostensibly as
your acting secretary, but really as a spy--"

"Oh, no; I can't think that of young Penfield," protested the president.

"I say yes; and the proof is that Penfield has confessed. He was scared
into it when I told him what had happened at Horse Creek and gave him
his choice of telling me what he knew, or going to jail. Then I came on
the scene at the inopportune moment, and after North had carefully
issued instructions intended to delay me as much as possible, he sent
Eckstein in post-haste by way of Jack's Canyon and the stage trail to
get ahead of me. You see, he was afraid to trust matters to Penfield,
who would most certainly have stopped short of the desperate measures
Eckstein and the MacMorroghs finally took. It was decided at a council
in which Penfield was present, that Ford's elimination must go through.
If you didn't quarrel with him and drop him, he was to be murdered."

Mr. Colbrith was silent for a long minute after Adair ceased speaking.
Then he looked up to say: "What was Ford doing at Horse Creek that
night? He had left me only a few hours before; and, as I have said, we
had--we had some words."

Adair smiled. "He was about to begin doing what he has been doing ever
since: flogging the extension into shape night and day to get it ready
to carry passengers and freight. He conceived it to be his duty--to you
as well as to the other st