“It would doubtless be Hallock’s policy—­and Flemister’s, too, for that matter—­to make you believe they are not friends.  You’ll have to admit they are together a great deal.”

“I’ll admit it if you say so, but I didn’t know it before.  How do you know it?”

“Hallock is over here every day or two; I have seen him three or four times since that day when he and Flemister were walking down the new spur together and turned back at sight of me,” said Benson.  “Of course, I don’t know what other business Hallock may have over here, but one thing I do know, he has been across the river, digging into the inner consciousness of my old prospector.  And that isn’t all.  After he had got the story of the timber stealing out of the old man, he tried to bribe him not to tell it to any one else; tried the bribe first and a scare afterward—­told him that something would happen to him if he didn’t keep a still tongue in his head.”

Lidgerwood shook his head slowly.  “That looks pretty bad.  Why should he want to silence the old man?”

“That’s just what I’ve been asking myself.  But right on the heels of that, another little mystery developed.  Hallock asked the old man if he would be willing to swear in court to the truth of his story.  The old man said he would.”

“Well?” said Lidgerwood.

“A night or two later the old prospector’s shack burned down, and the next morning he found a notice pinned to a tree near one of his sluice-boxes.  It was a polite invitation for him to put distance between him and the Timanyoni district.  I suppose you can put two and two together, as I did.”

Again Lidgerwood said:  “It looks pretty bad for Hallock.  No one but the thieves themselves could have any possible reason for driving the old man out of the country.  Did he go?”

“Not much; he isn’t built that way.  That same day he went to work building him a new shack; and he swears that the next man who gets near enough to set it afire won’t live to get away and brag about it.  Two days afterward Hallock showed up again, and the old fellow ran him off with a gun.”

Just then the bridge-foreman came up to say that the timbers were in place, and Benson swung off to give Lidgerwood’s engineer instructions to run carefully.  As the service-car platform came along, Lidgerwood leaned over the railing for a final word with Benson.  “Keep in touch with your old man, and tell him to count on us for protection,” he said; and Benson nodded acquiescence as the one-car train crept out upon the dismantled bridge.

Having an appointment with Leckhard, of the main line, timed for an early hour the following morning, Lidgerwood gave his conductor instructions to stop at Angels only long enough to get orders for the eastern division.

When the division station was reached, McCloskey met the service-car in accordance with wire instructions sent from Timanyoni, bringing an armful of mail, which Lidgerwood purposed to work through on the run to Copah.