CHAPTER XXIV.
BEFORE THE BOARD.
At ten o’clock the following morning Nash was ushered into the big directors’ room, where the governing board of aqueduct engineers was to pass judgment.
The two detectives had brought him into San Fernando by automobile, and they had been just in time to catch the last train to Los Angeles. Despite the cloud which hung over his head, Nash had been treated with the utmost consideration.
Very little sleep came to him in the few remaining hours of the night. He was well aware of the serious situation, and tried to fix upon some definite method of procedure. The examining board would expect him to defend himself. He resolved to tell the whole truth, from the very day he discovered the letter in the book of verse to the present. As for proofs, one way or another, he could offer nothing better than his word.
It was a beautiful, balmy morning when he walked down Spring Street in the custody of the two detectives, a morning such as only Los Angeles can boast of—tempered by ocean breezes, and with the air heavy with the perfume of orange blossoms. Nash drank deep of the sunshine; how marvelous it seemed; doubly so now, when his liberty might be but a question of——
Before they reached the new city hall on South Broadway a half dozen newspaper men were trailing them; a camera or two appeared. Somehow, the news of Nash’s arrest and the expected upheaval in Camp Forty-seven had reached the ears of the vigilant press.
The chimes on the city-hall tower were striking eleven when Nash finally took the seat set aside for him in the big directors’ room. The majority of the engineers were gathered about the long table, waiting.
Nash was surprised to see at the far end the familiar face of Jim Sigsbee. The politician had evidently decided to forego his proposed trip to San Francisco and remain on the scene.
The preliminaries were brief and to the point.
“Our private detective in this affair, Miss Breen, has not shown up,” the spokesman of the board announced gravely, “but we can proceed. The prisoner is probably aware of the nature of the crime for which he has been arrested.”