“Go on, Mr. King,” said Manning, “all I want is the truth, but the card story won’t do.”

“I guess it won’t do me any good to tell you anything else but the truth,” rejoined King.  “Well, Tod told me about this shooting business before we started, and of course I believed it.  I noticed, though, before we were away from the city very long, that there was something else on his mind, that made him very uneasy, and gave him a great deal of trouble.  He was moody and silent for hours, and it was only when he drank a great deal that he was at all lively, or seemed like his old natural self.  Finally, on the morning of the third day, I put the question fairly to him, and he then told me what he had done.  He said he and two others had robbed a bank, and that he was making his way westward.  He was resolved not to be captured, and said that no two men should take him alive.  He then told me that he wanted me to take the team back to Des Moines, and that he would take the train at Grand Junction, and try to make his way to Manitoba.  We parted company at the Junction, where Tod took the train for Sioux City.  He paid all the expenses of the trip and offered to give me some of the money, but I refused to accept any, and told him what I had done was done simply for friendship.”

“How much money did Duncan have at that time?” asked Manning.

“He had nearly four thousand dollars, I should judge,” answered King.

“Did he say who assisted him in this robbery?”

“Yes; he told me that a man by the name of Edwards was one, and that the assistant cashier of the bank was the prime mover in the whole affair.  He also said that the cashier had not played fair, but had taken out twelve thousand dollars in gold instead of six thousand.  He was very bitter against this man, and said he believed that he would give them all away to save his own neck, if it came to the pinch.”

After some further conversation, which convinced Manning that King was telling the truth and that he was entirely ignorant of Duncan’s hiding-place, the young brakeman was allowed to go his way, with the understanding that they were to meet again in the evening.

Manning now hastened to the telegraph office, and a cipher message, containing in brief all he had thus far learned, was soon upon its way to me.

My reply was to the effect that he should again see King, and inquire if Duncan had mentioned anything about the valise which they had carried away from Geneva.  Then to endeavor to obtain a photograph of Duncan, and finally thereafter to lose no time in starting out for Sioux City.