“I recall now that he mentioned something of the sort,” Nash answered, a sudden suspicion entering his mind.
“I was in Los Angeles day before yesterday,” Miss Breen said. “It was then I notified the authorities. Yesterday I learned that Sigsbee had left for San Francisco, and intended taking a trip to Honolulu. I wondered at the time—now I have ceased to.”
“What do you mean?” Nash demanded, startled by her tone.
“Just this.” Miss Breen spoke rapidly, and with confidence. Apparently she had a more intimate knowledge of Sigsbee than Nash first imagined. The few remarks Nash had dropped had helped to cement together her story. “Camp Forty-seven has long been under suspicion. Sigsbee must have been alarmed—and the first thing he sought to do was to throw all the blame upon another’s shoulders. You happened into the game at an inopportune moment. He closed your mouth by putting you in charge here. Then, to help matters along, he arranged these false specifications, which you blindly followed. He knew discovery was certain, and planned for it. It has happened. Sigsbee is cleared of all blame. Everything will be shifted upon your shoulders, Mr. Nash. The false specifications are missing—the real ones are here. Sigsbee will swear, and Hooker will undoubtedly back him up, that these correct ones were the only ones sent. They’ve dropped you into a cage, and you have sprung the trap.”
Before she had half finished, Nash understood the situation. It came to him swiftly, brutally. Sigsbee’s fawning and Hooker’s honeyed words had been the strings with which he had been led into the trap.
“You’re right, Miss Breen,” he said finally. “I’m caught—and all but helpless. I have not one thing to prove that I——”
The girl interrupted with a cry. “Oh, why, why didn’t I wait until I knew for sure!” she stammered. “I took everything for granted. I thought you guilty. Oh, you can’t remain here, Mr. Nash. I am to blame for it all. You cannot stay here.”
“But wouldn’t it be an admission of guilt to run away?” he asked. “Of course it would. And I don’t intend to do so.”
“Oh, but what chance have you against Sigsbee and his political influence?” she cried.
“I’ll make a chance,” he answered firmly. “I’m innocent. I’ve tried to do what was right. Things can’t be as black as they look.”