“‘An’ when we get him out here, capen, we’ll have two strings to our bow,’ continued Sanders. ‘I don’t go in very strong fur attemptin’ to work on the feelin’s of the major—leastways not till we have tried something else—’cause he’s awfully hard-headed, an’ when he onct makes up his mind to a thing he’s as sot as one of the Rocky Mountains. Thar’s one other man in the world who knows whar the nuggets is hid, an’ if we can get hold of him, I b’lieve we can make him open his mouth. It’s Silas Roper. You see, him an’ old Juan used to do purty much as they pleased here in the major’s time, an’ they knowed all about his private business matters. Juan would be the best one to work on, ’cause he hain’t got Silas’s grit, but he hain’t come back here in sich shape that we can manage him.’
“‘But we don’t know where Silas is,’ said Reginald.
“‘Never mind. He’s about here somewhar, an I’ll bet a hoss onto it. An’ I’ll bet on another thing, too: As soon as Silas finds out that we’ve got Julian here he’ll come out of his hidin’-place, an’ we can captur’ him. Understand my plan, don’t you?’
“Reginald did understand it, and gave it his hearty approval. He spent an hour talking the matter over with Sanders, giving him some very minute instructions, so that there could be no possible chance for failure, and brought the interview to an end by telling him a long list of lies to be repeated to you, and furnishing him money to bear his expenses to the States.”
“I have often wondered what object Sanders could have had in misrepresenting things as he did,” remarked Julian.
“I can tell you. Reginald thought it very probable that you had been left in some thickly settled part of the country, and he was afraid that Sanders, if left to himself, might attempt to carry you away by force. By doing that he might have aroused the settlers and the officers of the law in the neighborhood, and thus defeated his plans. If he had once succeeded in getting you out on the prairie away from everybody, he would have thrown off his mask and appeared in his true character very quickly.
“Sanders started for the States that very night, and so did Richard. The latter was determined that if he could not possess father’s money nobody should, and he hoped to reach your hiding-place in advance of Sanders, and dispose of you so effectually that you never could be found. Old Juan told Silas about it when he came in from the mountains, and he also started for the States, intending to wait for you at St. Joe, and to take charge of you if Sanders brought you there. He succeeded in getting hold of you at last, and brought you to the mountains. Richard, finding himself outwitted, joined your train in disguise, hoping to find an opportunity to shoot you during the journey, while Sanders came on ahead and raised a band of Indians to attack the train. He had been promised $5,000 if he would deliver you into Reginald’s hands, and that money he was determined to have. Our affairs have been pretty well mixed up for the last eight years, but this night will see them straightened out again.”
“I certainly hope so. But, Fred, why didn’t Silas, when he found me, tell me that he was a friend, and that he would assist me?”
“He did tell you that. If he had told you more, would you have believed him? Hadn’t Sanders deceived you and made you suspicious of everybody? When you and Silas were sitting on the steps of the hotel in St. Joe, and he told you that he knew who you were, didn’t you jump up and run away from him? The old fellow isn’t much given to talking anyhow. He believes in actions rather than words. You know that he was captured by Sanders and some of his band on the night the train was attacked, and that he escaped from them the next morning.”
“What would Reginald have done to him if he had been brought to the rancho?”