The coming of Captain Lewis just then interrupted their confidential talk. Dick expected that their leader had something of importance to communicate, and he could give a pretty accurate guess concerning its nature.
Sure enough, the first words spoken by the President’s private secretary explained the nature of his visit to the cabin of the Armstrong boys.
“I had an opportunity to examine your canoe, and there can be no reason to doubt that some unknown miscreant planned to have you lose your lives in the rapids. It was cleverly done, and at night-time doubtless, when no one would be apt to notice him working with your boat. The knife went in just deep enough to weaken the whole skin of the bottom, and only a slight blow was needed to finish the treacherous work.”
“Of course you have not been able to place your hand on the guilty party, Captain, have you?” asked Roger, eagerly.
“Nothing has been found out so far,” came the reply. “One of my reasons for joining you just now is to ask if either of you have any suspicions. Although of course we could not accuse any one on such grounds alone, at the same time it might narrow our search, and focus attention on the guilty one, so that he could be watched, and caught in the act.”
“We do not feel able to say positively, Captain Lewis,” said Dick, “but when we came to look over the entire membership of the company we finally figured it out that it must lie between three men. All the others seemed to be above suspicion in our eyes.”
“Tell me who they are, so that I can have them watched,” demanded the commander.
“There is, first of all, Drewyer, the Canadian scout. He never seemed to be very friendly with us, for some reason or other, though we have had no quarrel. You are surprised to hear me mention his name, because you have always trusted him fully. And the chances are, Captain, that Drewyer is as faithful as the needle to the pole. I only include him because we know so little about him.”
“Who is the next one you have on your list?” asked Captain Lewis. “I count considerably on your natural sagacity to help in running this traitor to earth. You boys have learned pretty well how to judge men from their actions and looks, rather than from their fair speech. Tell me the other names, please, Dick.”
“Fields is the second man. I base my right to include him in the group from the fact that there was a time when my cousin, here, and Fields had hot words over something the trapper had been doing in the village, and which Roger took him to task for. Since that time they have been on speaking terms, but I do not think Fields likes us over much.”