“Then he was actually seen taking part in the abduction?”
“Disguised, yes,” enlightened the inspector. “There has been something altogether queer going on in these camps for some time as you likely know from your own experiences, and I have no doubt the carrying off of Miss Stone is but a side issue of some intrigue on foot between these rival lumbermen. One or the other of the companies concerned must have put up Stubbs’ bail.
“However, I have to admit that suspicion first fell upon the camp preacher through some chance remarks on the part of Mr. A. C. Smith, the superintendent, on the very morning the affair took place. Mr. Smith came down to my tent early to ask me to go up and have breakfast with him and to inquire if there were anything he or any of his men could do to help us out in getting settled. A mighty charming and interesting chap that man Smith for all his enemies say about him, and he has at least shown us every courtesy since we’ve been here.
“Well, when we were just about to leave for the dining camp he whirled and asked me a remarkable question. ‘Did you ever know of one man successfully impersonating two different characters in life, Inspector Little?’ He put it with that odd little smile of his—a sort of whimsical grin that makes you think he’s reading your answer before you utter it.
“‘Well,’ I answered in a spirit of banter, ‘there was Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, for instance, and I’ve known certain actors on the stage who did it pretty smartly.’
“But he seemed to be serious about it. ‘I have reason to suspect such a dual role is being played in real life on these limits,’ he said. Then he asked: ‘Did you closely observe that camp preacher, Rev. Nathan Stubbs, who was down around the docks here a little while ago?’
“‘I did,’ I answered, for it is part of our business to take sharp note of all strange characters.
“‘And you looked over the Indian Medicine Man they call Ogima Bush who was around here when you were putting up your tents late yesterday afternoon?’
“I told him I had, wondering all the time what he was coming to. Then he asked me if I had noted a peculiarity about both their eyes; that, while the Indian had two little wounds either painted or gashed under his, the camp preacher had talcum or some other powder thickly spread over what seemed to be tiny scars in the same places on his face.
“‘By Jove,’ I answered, ‘now that you mention it, I have noticed that, and though their clothing, colour of skin and get-up is different, they are about the one height and build.’