“You bet! It may be too late now. The news came an hour ago, but I couldn’t find you,” said Struve. “Your horse is saddled at the office. Better not wait to change your clothes.”
“You say Voorhees has gone with twenty deputies, eh? That’s good. You stay here and find out all you can.”
“I telephoned out to the Creek for the boys to arm themselves and throw out pickets. If you hurry you can get there in time. It’s only midnight now.”
“What is the trouble?” Miss Chester inquired, anxiously.
“There’s a plot on to attack the mines to-night,” answered the lawyer. “The other side are trying to seize them, and there’s apt to be a fight.”
“You mustn’t go out there,” she cried, aghast. “There will be bloodshed.”
“That’s just why I must go,” said McNamara. “I’ll come back in the morning, though, and I’d like to see you alone. Good-night!” There was a strange, new light in his eyes as he left her. For one unversed in woman’s ways he played the game surprisingly well, and as he hurried towards his office he smiled grimly into the darkness.
“She’ll answer me to-morrow. Thank you, Mr. Glenister,” he said to himself.
Helen questioned Struve at length, but gained nothing more than that secret-service men had been at work for weeks and had to-day unearthed the fact that Vigilantes had been formed. They had heard enough to make them think the mines would be jumped again to-night, and so had given the alarm.
“Have you hired spies?” she asked, incredulously.