“Reddy Magraw,” he answered, hoarsely.
“Reddy Magraw!” echoed the train-master, with a stare of astonishment. “Are you sure?”
“I wouldn’t say so if I wasn’t sure, sir,” answered Allan, with a little flush of resentment. “I couldn’t be mistaken.”
“Of course,” agreed the train-master, kindly. “But I didn’t think Reddy would do anything like that.”
“I don’t believe he would have done it, sir,” said Allan, “if Dan Nolan hadn’t got hold of him,” and he told of the conference he and Jack had witnessed on the river-bank. “I believe Dan put all this meanness into his head,” he concluded. “I’m sure it’s with Dan he stays all the time he’s away from home.”
Mr. Schofield nodded again.
“No doubt you are right,” he assented. “Perhaps we ought to have suspected him before. Of course, the boys never thought of watching him, and so let him stay around the yards as much as he wanted to. But we’ll have to protect ourselves. This sort of thing can’t go on.”
“You mean Reddy will have to be arrested?” questioned Allan, with sinking heart.
“No,” and the train-master smiled at his anxious face. “I’ll file an affidavit of lunacy against Reddy before the probate judge, and we’ll have him sent to the asylum at Athens. He’ll be well taken care of there, and maybe will get well again much sooner than he would at home. He’s not getting any better here, that’s certain; and he’s caused us a lot of trouble. Besides, he’s only a burden to his wife.”
“Oh, she never thinks of that,” said Allan, quickly. “It’s his staying away that hurts her.”