“That’s right. We had worked out a crude code system. It never was very effective.”
“Carlos took you by surprise today on the trail?”
“Yes, with a little luck, I’d have made it to Bogota with the emeralds.”
“Leaving Mr. Corning to his fate?”
Rhodes flushed, ashamed to have his intentions so openly discussed. He fell into a morose silence, making no further attempt to act friendly.
On the trail, Mr. Corning and Mr. Livingston had ample opportunity to renew their old friendship. The engineer explained that he had urged the Scout leader to come to Emerald Valley in the hope of forestalling the very situation which had developed.
“Carlos has been terrorizing these hills for years,” he informed his friend. “I suspected that Rhodes was stirring things up a bit, but I never had proof. That was one reason I sent for you. I figured you could help me.”
“That vein should establish the Last Chance on a highly productive basis again,” Mr. Corning asserted. “Operations should remain profitable for many years.”
Rhodes talked very little during the tedious journey back to civilization. He admitted however, that he had ordered his workmen to weaken the log bridge so that the Scouts would be stranded across the river.
“I figured you would find the vein,” he confessed. “I wasn’t ready to start mining operations until I had made certain Corning wouldn’t come back to plague me. So I figured I could keep you tied up across the river for a day or so until I could make my plans. It didn’t work.”