“‘That’s a good idea! I suppose I’d betther go there an’ luk afther him. Ye see, I’m anxious about him, for he’s been livin’ wid me, an’ if anythin’ happened to him, people might say I done it!’
“‘That’s a queer thing for him to say!’ said Norah to her father.
“Murdock turned on her at once.
“‘Quare thing—no more quare than the things they’ll be sayin’ about you before long.’
“‘What do you mean?’ said Joyce, coming out.
“‘Oh, nawthin’, nawthin’! I must look for Moynahan.’ And without a word he turned and ran. Joyce and Norah went into the house. When Murdock had quite gone I knocked at the door, and Joyce came out like a thunderbolt.
“‘I’ve got ye now ye ruffian’—he shouted—‘what did ye mean to say to me daughter?’ but by this time I stood in the light, and he recognized me.
“‘Hush!’ I said, ‘let me in quietly’—and when I passed in we shut the door. Then I told them that I had been out on the mountain, and had found Moynahan. I told them both that they must not ask me any questions, or let on to a soul that I had told them anything—that much might depend on it—for I thought, Art, old chap, that they had better not be mixed up in it, however the matter might end. So we all three went out with a lantern, and I brought them to where the old man was asleep. We lifted him, and between us carried him to the house; Joyce and I undressed him and put him in bed, between warm blankets. Then I came away and went over to Mrs. Kelligan’s, where I slept in a chair before the fire.
“The next morning when I went up to Joyce’s I found that Moynahan was all right—that he hadn’t even got a cold, but that he remembered nothing whatever about his walking into the bog. He had even expressed his wonder at seeing the state his clothes were in. When I went into the village I found that Murdock had been everywhere and had told everyone of his fears about Moynahan. I said nothing of his being safe, but tried quietly to arrange matters so that I might be present when Murdock should set his eyes for the first time on the man he had tried to murder. I left him with a number of others in the shebeen, and went back to bring Moynahan, but found, when I got to Joyce’s that he had already gone back to Murdock’s house. Joyce had told him, as we had arranged, that when Murdock had come asking for him he had been alarmed, and had gone out to look for him; had found him asleep on the hillside, and had brought him home with him. As I found that my scheme of facing Murdock with his victim was frustrated, I took advantage of Murdock’s absence to remove the stones which he had placed to mark the spot where the treasure was last seen. I found them in the form of a cross, and moving them, replaced them at a spot some distance lower down the line of the bog. I marked the place, however, with a mark of my own—four stones put widely apart at the points of a letter Y—the centre marking the spot where the cross had been. Murdock returned to his house not long after, and within a short time ran down to tell that Moynahan had found his way home, and was all safe. They told me that he was then white and scared-looking.” Here Dick paused:—
“Now, my difficulty is this. I know he tried to murder the man, but I am not in a position to prove it. No man could expect his word to be taken in such a matter and under such circumstances. And yet I am morally certain that he intends to murder him still. What should I do? To take any preventive steps would involve making the charge which I cannot prove. As yet neither of the men has the slightest suspicion that I am concerned in the matter in any way—or that I even know of it. Now may I not be most useful by keeping a watch and biding my time?”