In his runabout, with Sheriff Madden at his side, and followed by Atkinson and half a dozen men for guards in two other machines, Weir sped along the road to San Mateo. They carried with them Burkhardt, who had been found stunned and slightly injured, and two Mexican bandits who had been captured. Those of the party of attackers yet alive but seriously hurt were being treated at camp by Dr. Hosmer, while the young engineers, armed and eager, were scouring the mountain side for the few Mexicans who had got away.
It seemed a miracle that Burkhardt had escaped death, but the explanation was found no doubt in the fact he had started from the spot where the canisters fell and so at the moment of explosion was outside the area of its full destruction. To Weir the matter went deeper than that. Providence appeared to have saved him for punishment, for the long term of imprisonment he deserved for his crimes.
“I’d much rather have him alive than dead,” Steele had remarked to Madden, when the man was brought up from the canyon a prisoner.
The tremendous thunder-clap of sound from the camp had quickened the return of the superintendent and his men, already reached and warned by the doctor. More, it had startled even the drunken workmen so that when some one shouted that the dam had been blown up the 262 debauch came to an immediate end, the house was deserted and the throng, incited by curiosity and wonder, went staggering and running for camp.
The first of these had arrived and the rest were tailing behind for half a mile when Weir and his companions set out for town, the blinding headlights of the machines scattering on either side of the road the approaching workmen. It was not likely many would go back to the house when they were told at headquarters how narrowly destruction of the works had been averted and how their spree had been a move in the plot. Between shame at being-duped and drowsiness resulting from drink they would, after a look at the hole blown in the earth at the base of the dam, want to seek their bunk-houses.
As they sped towards town Weir and Madden rapidly made their plans, for the sheriff having witnessed with his own eyes the enormity of the plotters’ guilt was all for quick action.
“These engineers of yours with us and the other men Meyers will bring down can be thrown as a guard around the jail,” he stated. “I’ll swear them all in as deputies. With Sorenson and Vorse locked up along with Burkhardt––and I’ll throw Lucerio, the county attorney, in with them on the off chance he’s an accomplice––there will be high feeling running in San Mateo. As quick as I can make arrangements, we’ll take them to safe quarters elsewhere––to-night if possible, to-morrow at the latest, in fast machines. These men have friends, remember.”
“You’ve Burkhardt handcuffed; it might be well to gag him, too, for fear the crowd might make trouble if he yelled for help,” Weir replied.
“Yes, we’ll do that, though I think we can rush him 263 into the jail before anyone knows what’s happening.”
On the outskirts of town therefore the cars stopped. When Burkhardt, who had recovered his senses and with them a knowledge of his plight, perceived the sheriff’s intention his rage burst all bounds.