There was not much to be done in the way of investigation just then; Carnes would follow after Blake so long as it seemed necessary, or until he could inform me how to guard against any evil the crook might be intent upon.
Meantime I must redouble my vigilance, and let no movement of Dimber's escape my notice.
To this end I abandoned, for the present, my hastily formed resolution, to go at once in search of Jim Long, and bring about a better understanding between us. That errand, being of less importance than the surveillance of the rascal Dimber, could be left to a more convenient season, or so I reasoned in my pitiful blindness.
Where was my professional wisdom then? Where the unerring foresight, the fine instinct, that should have warned me of danger ahead?
Had these been in action, one man might have been saved a shameful stigma, and another, from the verge of the grave.
CHAPTER XXIII.
A SHOT IN THE DARK.
That afternoon dragged itself slowly away.
I left Carnes in our room, and went below to note the movements of the two crooks.