“Why don’t you?”
“I’ve tried to explain to you, Sandy. I have a feeling that it woul‘d be foolhardy. Something more than a mere quarrel or a fight is involved. That man, whoever he is, had some secret purpose in view when he accosted me just now. I don’t know what that purpose is, but I do know I’m not going to take any chances.”
For a few moments they walked on in silence.
“I can forget about it if you can,” remarked Sandy a little dryly.
Dick laughed good-naturedly.
“I don’t think I’ll have any trouble doing that,” he responded quickly. “There’s too much else to think about. And that reminds me that I have some big news for you and Toma. How would you like to take a trip out to the coast this winter?”
Sandy stopped short in his tracks.
“To the coast!” he exclaimed. “What do you mean?”
“Exactly that. Corporal Rand told me about it today. He brought a letter from our old friend, Sergeant Richardson.”
Without further preliminary, Dick launched into the story. Toma and Sandy listened with bated breath while Dick gave them the particulars of the theory which had been advanced by the mounted police respecting the alleged operations of Murky Nichols. Blind Man’s Pass, the murder of Daddy McInnes, the double cache of stolen fur and finally the proposed expedition to the west coast to be undertaken by the boys themselves—all became subjects of absorbing interest and speculation.