To Bob's surprise, the man fled at once. Emu Bill laughed.
"I'd have liked a word with the skunk myself," said he. "He's one of the measliest rats in the West, he is."
Then Jack added his testimony. "He's been dodging around trying to get a look at the battery all evening."
The sound of a strenuous scuffle from behind the vat at this moment drew their attention. With a bound Mackay rushed to investigate, and there he beheld the Shadow engaged in silent conflict with the man they had just been discussing. The crowd had by this time drawn away from the scene of operations, and were talking excitedly among themselves over their now rosy future prospects.
Mackay snorted savagely. "Let me get a crack at him, Shadow," he said, hastening to the fray. But the struggling man, already safe in the Shadow's sinewy grip, on hearing the new-comer's voice, made a desperate effort to free himself, and literally tore himself from his enemy's grasp, and sped off into the night.
The Shadow gazed ruefully after the vanishing figure. "It was your fault," he said reproachfully to Mackay. "When you chased him away 'bout a minute ago I was watching him, an' saw him do a slide round by the back, so I just sat tight an' waited for the dodger. He was pulling the cover from that there fizzing concern when I gripped him by the neck."
"But who is he, anyhow?" asked Bob, who, with the others, had come to inquire the cause of the disturbance.
"He's a most dangerous man, Bob," answered Mackay, grimly. "His name is Wynberg, an' he's the chief chemist and assayer o' one o' the crookest mining companies in Australia, a clever man in his way, no doubt, but his cleverness seems aye to develop in the wrong direction, as the shareholders o' the company he represents should well ken by this time. He came here wi' that thief Macguire on purpose to steal your brains, Bob—for nothing else."
"Well, I scarcely think he has succeeded," laughed Bob.
The crowd was by this time beginning to disperse, and a number of the miners came up to say good night.