“I have no doubt of it.”
“Was she stolen from you?”
“Yes. It’s a long story. I will tell it to you while we are on the way. She is well?”
“Yes, sir. But she has been misused, so you mustn’t expect to see her looking real good. She is very thin.”
“I have not seen her for four years, not since she was a mite of a toddler.”
The pair started for the ferry without delay, and as they proceeded, the colonel related his story.
He was a mine-owner and had lived in the West for fifteen years. His wife had died when Dottie was born, and the child had been turned over to the care of a colored nurse.
At that time James MacHenry had been a prospector in the region and he had opened a mine close to that located by the colonel.
All went well until the MacHenry mine petered out as it is called, and then the man’s mind became deranged. He accused the colonel of having cheated him out of a slice of the richest land and a bitter quarrel resulted.
Two weeks later MacHenry disappeared, and shortly after that baby Dottie was missing. A long search was made for the child, but without avail.