“No, I don’t think so. There is only one white man in this country who could lead us unerringly to Blind Man’s Pass—and that person is Murky Nichols!”
CHAPTER III
SERGEANT RICHARDSON’S THEORY
For the second time since coming to the room, Corporal Rand strode to the door and opened it.
“I must be nervous today,” he declared. “I pop up here every few minutes like a jack-in-the-box. Somehow, I can’t get over the feeling that there was really someone prowling about the hallway a short time ago.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” reassured Dick.
“Possibly I am mistaken. There are times when a thing like that will lay hold of you, and you don’t seem to be able to shake it off.”
“I’ve often experienced the same feeling,” confessed Dick. “It isn’t very pleasant.”
Closing the door, the mounted policeman helped himself to a glass of water from a pitcher that stood on the table.
“I’ve given you a brief outline of Richardson’s theory,” he stated, “but I’m afraid I haven’t made everything quite clear. Are there any questions you’d like to ask?”
“Yes—about Hart and O’Connell,” Dick responded quickly. “According to what you have said, these men have given Nichols money. After listening to your story, that part of it doesn’t seem reasonable. If Murky uses their outfits to transport stolen goods to the coast through Blind Man’s Pass, I should think he’d be under obligation to them, that he’d pay them money instead of their paying him.”