CHAPTER XX
THE RESCUE PARTY
Scott was up early the next morning in spite of his strenuous efforts of the day before and Mr. Ramsey met him at the breakfast table.
“Wife’s away on a visit,” Mr. Ramsey explained, “so I thought I would wait for you and get the story before you had worn it out telling it to these curiosity mongers around here.”
Scott told him the whole tale, including Dugan’s visit to the cabin the night before he left for the dam. The supervisor listened silently with frowning face. “Sort of a close corporation,” he remarked when Scott had finished. “It is certainly remarkable the way you have rounded the whole gang up. It has not been all luck as you say; you have shown very good judgment and done some hard work on it. That ought to put a stop to the monkey business around here for a while. We’ll just keep all this information about the graft in the service to ourselves for a while. We are well rid of Dugan and Jed and it will not be much of a trick to dispose of Benson. I think I shall let him stay in the office till it comes time for an investigation and then spring it on him.
“Dawson is the only one that worries me. I believe there is a lot of truth in the story he told you up at the dam. He has made us a mighty good man with the single exception of this dirty business deal in this district of yours, and he certainly has plenty of ability. I have never heard of a smoother scheme than the one he worked. He is more than half right in the argument he put up to you, too. If he really wants to put up a fight, as he probably will, it will be mighty hard to prove the charges against him; especially now that Jed and Dugan are out of it. I am not all sure we can nail him.”
“Yes,” Scott admitted, “I was counting on Jed pretty strong. It will not be so easy without him and yet I think that I can make out a fairly strong case.”
“Think you are not too stiff to ride back up there to the dam to-day?” Mr. Ramsey asked.
“I can make it all right if Jed can travel,” Scott said.
“Oh, he’s all right. I was out there to see him this morning and he has forgotten all about it. He is certainly a wonderful horse. Well, then, we’ll take a couple of the boys from here, including a doctor, and start in about half an hour.”