“Yes. If you have any real information I will pay whatever it is worth.”
“All right, I’ll go.”
Oliver at once led the way to the hotel at which they had left their traps. He found Mr. Whyland in the reading-room, looking over a copy of the Call.
He quickly acquainted the gentleman with what had taken place. Mr. Whyland was deeply interested.
“I guess you are right about the two colonels being the same person,” he said. “Let us interview this stranger at once. I am willing to pay him if he really knows anything of value.”
Accordingly, Felix Cottle was at once brought in. He wore a rough suit and big boots, and looked quite out of place in the well-furnished apartment.
“I am more at home in the mountains than here,” he remarked, as he took a chair beside them. “I was brought up on the streets of Little Rock when a boy; but I would rather travel a lonely trail any day than walk the pavements of a city.”
“You know the mining district well, I suppose?” said Mr. Whyland.
“There ain’t much of it that I don’t know,” replied Cottle. “Before I started to work for Guerotaz I spent twelve years and ten thousand dollars prospecting, here, there, and everywhere.”