“He would have tried to force him to tell where father’s money was hidden, and if he had refused, as he certainly would have done, that would have been the last of Silas. Then Reginald would have used you to frighten father, telling him that he had you in his power, and that if he didn’t tell where that money was he would do something dreadful to you.”
“What was Reginald’s object in treating me so kindly? Why didn’t he keep me a close prisoner?”
“Why, he wanted to make Silas Roper show himself, so that he could be captured. That could never be done by shutting you up. The best way was to give you full swing, and allow you to roam about as much as you pleased, for then Silas would be sure to see you, and you would sooner or later get into the habit of meeting him regularly; and when that state of affairs had been brought about, it would be but little trouble for Sanders and some of his band to surprise and capture Silas. In order to make you contented and willing to stay with him, Reginald provided you with every comfort, and told you that story about your being the sole heir to the property. He thought that would serve as well as bolts and bars to keep you about the rancho, for no boy in full possession of his senses would be likely to run away while he believed that he had a million or two in prospect.
“I was out riding my route on the night you arrived, but old Juan was on the watch as usual, and he knew when you were brought into the rancho. He frightened Richard, and made him abandon the idea of carrying you off to the mountains; and when you fell down in a swoon, he and Romez took you back to your room and put you to bed. It was Juan who wrote the note you received, and opened your windows the next morning before you awoke.”
“I shall never forget how surprised I was to find that some one had been in there,” observed Julian.
“When I visited Juan the next morning I found Silas with him. They told me what had happened the night before, adding that you had just gone out riding on Snowdrop. I was very much disappointed, for I had hoped to meet you as soon as you arrived. You see, to explain how you came by that mare, I make my home with Antoine, the herdsman. When I return from Hale’s I generally go there and leave my horse, and then set off to visit old Juan. Yesterday morning when I went home I found Snowdrop missing, and Antoine told me that Reginald had taken her. He gave her to you, and that one move on his part did us more good than eight years’ hard work has done.
“I had an encouraging piece of news for Silas. Smirker had told me that he knew where father was confined, and the trapper and I, after talking the matter over, decided to arrest him, and force the secret from him. On the same day he told me this he communicated to me another piece of news, and that was that he had two holes to his burrow, and a way of escape to be made use of in case of an attack from the soldiers or settlers; and thinking that if we concluded to make a raid on him when Silas came home, it might be well enough to know where that other hole to his burrow was, I spent one whole day in looking for it. I discovered it at last, and when I came down through it and burst into his cabin, Smirker was so angry that he had half a mind to shoot me.”
“He told me about that,” said Julian. “But did he never suspect your identity?”
“Never until this morning; and then he did not suspect me at first, but you. He was one of those who threw me into the lake, and when he learned that I wouldn’t stay there, and that I had come back to Reginald’s rancho, and was cutting up dreadful shines, he became badly frightened. He often talked to me about it, and acknowledged that he was afraid that the “haunt,” as he called it, might take it into his head to visit his cabin. When he saw us together this morning, and found out that one of us was a Mortimer, he knew the other must be also, for he says we look exactly alike, and so does Silas. Hale and his crowd must also see a very strong resemblance, or else you never could have passed yourself off for me in that rancho, where they are constantly on the lookout for treachery. Smirker believed that you were White-horse Fred, and also that you were Fred Mortimer, and the discovery he thought he had made alarmed him greatly. He breathed much more freely after you had gone out, and so did I.
“For myself I should have felt no fears, had it not been for one thing. I had with me a bag containing nuggets, dust and money, which I was to deliver to Smirker; if he searched me and found that bag in my pocket, he would know that I had deceived him—that I was the real White-horse Fred—and my life wouldn’t be worth a moment’s purchase. I tried to dispose of the bag, but he detected me in the act, and the result was just what I expected. He called me a traitor, told me that my time had come, and was on the very point of making his words good when Silas appeared. He came down the secret passage-way that leads from the top of the cliff, and arrived just in time.