"But tell me, anyhow, Frank," persisted Jerry.
"Supposing that the escaped convict felt that everybody's hand was raised against him, and that from this time on he must fight the world as a crooked man? In such a case he would be apt to feel that since he had the name he might as well have the game."
"I'm following you, and I must say you put the case just as well as Bluff could do, with all his dad's lawyer blood backing him up. Go on, Frank. This thing is mighty interesting to me, I tell you."
"Supposing the hunted man did feel that way, he might be tempted to start up in some unlawful business here in the quiet of the hills back of Oak Ridge. The only thing that occurs to me would, of course, be counterfeiting," said Frank.
"Had he been accused of that before?"
"Oh, no; or he would have been punished by the United States authorities rather than those of the State. But you know men in prison learn many bad things they never knew before going there. Somehow they seem eager to learn what every old lawbreaker has to tell, in secret. I've been told that, anyway, and believe it. So Thaddeus Lasher might have learned about counterfeiting while in prison."
"Follow up that idea still further, Frank. I've been reading the 'Count of Monte Cristo,' by Dumas, lately, and that gives me an idea. Perhaps Thaddeus found a chance to do something for one of the prisoners while there. That rascal, in return, may have told him where he had buried his tools for making money, and up here in these hills, too!" exclaimed Jerry eagerly.
Frank laughed at the conceit.
"Say, you are a great fellow for leaping to conclusions, and yet, when you come to examine the thing closer, it doesn't seem so very far-fetched, either. Such a thing has happened before Dumas ever wrote his immortal story, and I suppose it will come about a good many more times," he remarked.
"All right. If, in the end, it proves to be something like that, don't forget, will you, Frank, that I guessed it. Ordinarily, I'm not a very good hand at solving riddles, and it would about tickle me to death if by chance I had hit on the answer to the thing that's bothering us now."