“I don’t blame you for doubting me, Joe, but as sure as I am a prisoner here, like yourself, I have no intention of trying to deceive you. I am going to get you out of the hands of these outlaws, whether you are willing or not. If you won’t go with me, I will go alone; and when I find the settlers, I will guide them straight to this place.”
“How can you do it?” I asked. “You came here blindfolded, didn’t you?”
“Yes; but it was like locking the stable-door after the horse is stolen, I have been here many a time, and I know this house like a book.”
“But these people are your friends, are they not? Why do you turn against them?”
“Do you ask me that after what you heard to-day? Luke Redman went back on me completely, and I should be something more or less than human if I didn’t want to get even with him for that. I’d like to see him keep me here an hour longer than I want to stay. Who do you suppose stole my uncle’s money?” asked Tom, suddenly.
“Mr. Redman, of course.”
“Well, he didn’t. I stole it.”
“Tom Mason!” I exclaimed.
“Don’t talk so loud, or you’ll bring Barney up here. It is a fact, I am sorry to say, and the reason I took it was because I wanted to get Jerry Lamar into trouble. In the first place, I intended to keep you and all your friends in hot water, if I could. I found plenty of ways in which to bother you, such as stealing your boat, robbing your traps and shooting at your dogs, but I did not know what to do to Jerry, for he never went hunting and owned nothing worth stealing. I happened to be up the bayou, duck-shooting, on the morning on which uncle visited Mr. Lamar’s house. I saw the valise in the skiff, and knowing what it contained, I thought it would be a good plan to take it out and hide it. I did so. I paddled across the bayou, took the money, and paddled back again, without being seen, either by my uncle or Mr. Lamar. Jerry was suspected of the theft, as I knew he would be, and would have been sent to prison, if it had not been for your brother Mark.”
Tom paused, and I sat looking at him without speaking. Bad as I knew him to be, I had never dreamed that he could descend low enough to perpetrate an act like this.