“Thanks, Dick, you’ve done well,” approved the corporal. “You’ve helped me to weld the first link in the chain. In time, I hope to piece together the other links that will lead me to the solution of this mystery.”
Dick’s curiosity was aroused, but hesitated about asking any questions. To what mystery did Rand refer? He waited patiently for the policeman’s next words:
“In fairness to you, Dick, I think it’s advisable to give you some information regarding this case. I’ve already hinted to you that Murky Nichols is under police surveillance. We’ve been watching him closely for a long time. His movements have been suspicious. Although he professes to be a prospector, he really hasn’t done a tap of work in the last four years. He always has a large amount of money and he spends it liberally.”
“Where does he get this money?” Dick inquired.
“From three or four different sources. To my certain knowledge, there are two men who pay him money regularly. One is Fred Hart and the other is Tim O’Connell. Both of these men are packers in the summer and freighters in the winter. They have almost a monopoly on the transportation business in this particular section of the country. The Hudson’s Bay, in addition to several of the independent fur companies and free traders, give practically all of their business to these men. Last year Factor MacClaren’s business alone amounted to nearly five thousand dollars. Hart and O’Connell get the preference over the other packers and freighters because they are more efficient, careful and responsible.”
“Why,” said Dick, as the thought suddenly occurred to him, “perhaps Nichols is a silent-partner in their enterprise.”
Rand smiled at the other’s quick perception, but he slowly shook his head.
“That’s the conclusion we came to ourselves. Investigation, carried out secretly, proves that he isn’t. No—the thing goes deeper than that. Nichols is engaged in some secret and probably illegal enterprise. Little by little we’ve been picking up new clues—making new discoveries. We’ve found nothing incriminating yet, but I don’t believe it will be very long before we will.”
“What about the money that exchanged hands today? What business dealing do you suppose Nichols could have with those two hard-looking customers?”
“Both of them are thieves, but we haven’t yet been able to prove anything against them. For several weeks past we’ve suspected that either they’re in Murky’s employ or that the breeds come to him to sell stolen goods. The fact that Nichols paid them money today is a pretty strong indication that one or other of these suppositions is correct.”