“Two of our men reported yesterday that the ‘Infant Geyser’ had been blown up, and that there were reasons for thinking that it had been tampered with, so, at Colonel Appleby’s direction, I ordered them to make a further investigation; then last night along comes this fellow Bill Taggart and tells me he saw the deed done,” said the Sergeant, indicating the bewhiskered civilian. “Later in the evening. Taggart met this man Brown, who, he says, had committed the act, so I arrested Brown and put him in the guard-house. That’s all I know about it.”
The lieutenant then began questioning Taggart. Taggart said that he was a coach driver, and that, while conducting a party over Five Mile Pass, he had seen Brown fussing with the “Infant Geyser”; then saw it blow up. He further testified that, when he met Stacy near the hotel that night, he recognized the boy and told the sergeant, who made the arrest, of what he had seen.
At this juncture Elfreda Briggs rose and stood gazing at Lieutenant Chambers.
“Sir,” she began, “if I may be allowed to interrupt. This young man is one of the Overland party to which I belong. I am a lawyer, and I ask the privilege of questioning this witness. May I be permitted to do so. Lieutenant?”
“Certainly.” Lieutenant Chambers smiled and nodded: whereupon Miss Briggs turned to Taggart and stood regarding him with a steady gaze.
“You say, Mr. Taggart, that you were on Five Mile Pass when you discovered Mr. Brown doing something to the ‘Infant Geyser’?” asked Elfreda.
“Yes.”
“How far is it from the point where you were standing at the time to the ‘Infant’?”
“I reckon half to three-quarters of a mile.”
“You next saw Mr. Brown last night. Tell the lieutenant where Mr. Brown was at the time?”