"A clerk in the bank and devoted friend of the Mayhews."
"Where is he?"
"I do not know, sir."
"And they are dead."
"Manton and Hugh Mayhew are dead, by my hand, but where proof of their crime can be found I cannot tell, and so I am forced to hide under an assumed name—yes, Doctor Powell, the name of a dead man, Andrew Seldon, the one whose body was found by the rock in the desert and buried for mine."
"You have had a remarkable escape, Weston——"
"Seldon now sir, for that is the name I have taken, and let me now tell you how that poor man, the real Andrew Seldon, was plotted against."
"I shall be glad to hear all that you are willing to tell me, Seldon."
"Well, sir, it was while escaping from the pursuing soldiers, that I came upon a stray horse. He led me back to where his dead master lay upon the desert, and upon the body I found papers telling who he was, that he had left home under a cloud, had left a wife and child and riches, and come West to hide himself and hunt for gold until he dared return.
"There was a map of gold finds he had discovered, and he had struck it rich and was on his way home. So I dressed him in my uniform, took his traps, and went my way, and he was buried as Wallace Weston.