“Don’t let’s talk about that now.” Gebauer drew a deep breath. “I’m glad Lawrence mentioned the state of affairs to you. Now they won’t think it’s strange that we know all about it.”
“But suppose he never returns?” questioned Nat hoarsely.
“Oh, he’ll get back some time or other.”
“How do you know?”
“I’m sure he will. Just tumbling him down into that mine can’t have hurt him so very much.”
“But he might have gone down into some terribly deep hole.”
“I think you’ll find Dave Porter turning up safe and sound sooner or later. Just the same, I guess we had better not say anything about having seen him on his way to one of the towns in the rear,” continued Gebauer.
“Why not? I thought that was part of your scheme to get him into trouble.”
“Well, I’ve changed my mind about it, Nat. You see, it’s this way: If we were positive that he would show himself in a day or two, we might spread such a report. But if he doesn’t turn up, then they would be sure to come to us and ask for all particulars, and that might prove very embarrassing. So I guess for the present we had better say nothing.”
“What did you do with that notebook you picked up?”