“No, sir; you can speak out here. I don’t suppose you have anything to say that my son may not hear.”
“Oh, very well, then, sir, it’s this here. Old Dix—Loyer Dix—sent me here, ever so long ago, to spy out and report on your mine, and I did; and both Dix and Loyer Brownson, as they’re partners now, finding it a likely spec, wanted to buy it, but you wouldn’t sell, and worked it yourself.”
“Well, sir, what of that?”
“Oh, only that they were disappointed, and they became friends after, and sent me here to get took on and report everything.”
“Ah, I see,” said the Colonel, quietly; “a spy in the camp.”
“Yes, sir,” said the man, grinning.
“And you reported everything to them?”
“Yes, sir, o’ course; they paid me to, and so I did.”
“And took our money, too!” said Gwyn, indignantly.
“Oh, but I worked for that, Mr Gwyn, sir, and worked hard.”