"And so that is settled," they heard the man from New York remark. "I am glad to hear it, Vorlange."
Vorlange! Dick started and so did Jack Rasco. The boy was trying to think where he had heard it before. Ah, he had it now. Many and many a time had he heard his parent murmur that name in his sleep, and the name was coupled with many other things, dreadful to remember. Surely there was some awful mystery here. What made his father mutter that name in his dreams, and why at such time was he talking of murder and hanging, and sobbing that he was innocent? A cold chill crept down the boy's backbone. Was the heart of that secret to be laid bare at last?
CHAPTER XV.
AN IMPORTANT CONVERSATION.
"Yes, it's settled, Powell; and as soon as we are done here with the boomers, I'll get to work and find out what the claim is worth."
"How about being shadowed in the affair?"
"I'm not afraid—I'm laying my plans too well," answered Louis Vorlange. "I would go ahead at once, but to throw up my position under the government just now might excite suspicions."
"Have you the papers with you?"
"No; I left them at the cavalry camp. They are too valuable to carry in one's coat pocket."