"You are thinking of his mate?"
It was Cameron who had asked the question, but Mr. Hardcastle followed immediately with another.
"Did you remove the spoil?"
"My dear Mr. Hardcastle! How you must lack the detective instinct! Of course, I left everything as nearly as possible as I found it; the man camps on the spot, or very near it; he lights no fires and is careful to leave no marks, but I am more or less convinced of it. And that is where I shall take him to-night, or, rather, early to-morrow morning."
"I wish you could make it to-night," said Hardcastle, with a yawn that put a period to a pause of some duration.
"Why?" demanded the detective, raising open eyes for once.
"Because I've had a desperate week of it," replied Hardcastle, "and am dead with sleep."
The other carried his growing geniality to the length of an almost hearty laugh.
"My dear sir, do you suppose that I thought of taking you with us? No, Mr. Hardcastle, the risks of this sort of enterprise are for those who are paid to run them. And there is a risk; if we timed our attack too early or too late there would be bloodshed to a certainty. But at two o'clock the average man is fast asleep; at a quarter after one, therefore, I start with Sergeant Cameron and Constable Tyler."
Hardcastle yawned again.