The prospector turned from the trail and said, in a dry voice: “Well, that settles it; and now” He stopped and looked irresolutely down the road in the direction that Cash Vance had taken. The significance of the look did not escape his partner, who made a diversion.
“Josh,” he said steadily, “it seems to me we have learned enough for to-night, and that our next move requires some deliberation. You cannot bring any legal case against Vance on the evidence in your possession, I'm afraid. It's better to travel slowly and surely than rapidly and at random. Besides, it is late. I must take Edith home. And I think it best that you go with us.”
For a moment the prospector hesitated, as if loath to forego some half-formed plan, and then accompanied them as they turned back toward Shingle. He seemed absorbed in thought, and answered in monosyllables; but Edith had many suggestions to make and questions to ask, which, being founded on sympathy evoked through the prospector's benevolent lie, were scarcely to the point. They left her at the gate, after she had ascertained that her father, having been detained at his mine by an accident, would not be home that night. Josh openly regretted this, inasmuch as he had decided to consult with Barnes as to what might be the best step to take.
Tom did most of the talking on the way back to the Lady Edith, and, after returning to the cabin with Josh, went to sleep with the fervent hope that his peculiar partner would do nothing rash. And he was fairly convinced that any reckless danger point was passed when, on the next morning, Josh went about his part of the work as if nothing troubled him or gave him cause for thought. Tom might have been less certain of the prospector's amicable intentions had he known that in the afternoon Josh sent a note by a teamster to Specimen Jones, requesting that loyal friend to come to the Lady Edith Mine at nine o'clock that evening and to bring his gun with him. And, as if coincidence was to play a part, it was just nine o'clock when Frank Barnes, wearied by a trying day's work, returned home after an absence of forty-eight hours. He had scarcely entered when Edith, hearing him arrive, hastened to him to recount her adventure of the previous night.
“Edith,” he questioned earnestly, when she had concluded, “are you certain, absolutely certain, that Vance is the man you saw that night at Pinnacle Rock? There is a great deal more involved in this certainty than you can possibly know.”
Impressed by the gravity of his tone, she replied, with conviction: “I could take my oath to it, father! I am positive!”
He got to his feet, throwing off his air of weariness.
“That being so, I must saddle my horse and ride out to the Lady Edith at once. It is very important that I consult with Josh about this new development. Of course you don't know its importance, but I wish you had sent word to me this morning.” He stopped suddenly, frowned, and added: “I can't understand why Josh didn't let me know. It must be that By Heaven! I must get out there as quickly as possible! I know Josh Price! The fact that he didn't send me word means that he intends to go after Vance alone! It won't do! I must stop him! If I don't, he'll either kill Cash Vance or be killed himself!”
He started away, but his daughter detained him.
“I shall go, too, dad,” she said.
“No, no! You could do nothing. It is best that you stay home.”
“I can't!” she insisted desperately. “I must go!”
“No, you must not,” he said; and then, facing her, discovered abruptly that he was no longer faced by a girl, but by a grown woman.
“Edith” he began; but she hastened to him and stood in front of him, looking up with determined eyes.
“Father,” she declared. “you said there was more to this than I know. That is possibly true, but also there is more involved for me than you know.”
Astonished by her vehemence and defiance, he stared at her in his amazement.
“You don't mean to say that Tom Rogers has” He stopped lest he betray his own knowledge of Tom's self-admitted delinquency.
“I mean, dad, that but once in my life have I ever kept anything from you or evaded telling you what was in my mind. And that I've forgotten all the humiliation it cost me since then. There shall be no more of it.”
She lowered her eyes for an instant, and then bravely met his.
“If Josh Price is going to rush into trouble, Tom will go with him, because Tom thinks of him as if he were his father. And, father, I love Tom Rogers.”