"I was wondering if you did," said he.
"I guess there's no doubt as to who the Modoc Mining Company is."
"Oldham?"
"No," said Bob; "Baker and the Power Company. Oldham is Baker's man."
Ware whistled.
"Well, I suppose you know what you're talking about," said he, "but it's pretty generally understood that Oldham is on the other side of the fence. He's been bucking Baker in White Oaks on some franchise business. Everybody knows that."
Bob opened his eyes. Casting his mind back over the sources of his information, he then remembered that intimation of the connection between the two men had come to him when he had been looked on as a member of the inner circle, so that all things were talked of openly before him; that since Plant's day Oldham had in fact never appeared in Baker's interests.
"He's up in this country a good deal," Bob observed finally. "What's he say is his business?"
"Why, he's in a little timber business, as I understand it; and he buys a few cattle—sort of general brokerage."
"I see," mused Bob.