CHAPTER XVII
A Disappointment
"You seem surprised, Mr. Stanton!" exclaimed the inspector.
"I am surprised," I echoed, "and I intend to explain why presently. Meanwhile, I suppose you are trying to get on the track of the second man who lived in that tent?"
"That's what we are doing, sir–hard at it."
"You will never find him," I said.
"No, sir? May I ask what makes you so sure of that?"
"Simply because my opinion is that he does not exist–never did exist."
The inspector's jaw dropped. "But–but Mr. Carson Wildred—" he began, when I turned on him and cut him short.
"Did your experience never show you a case where a man, himself a criminal, invented proofs and clues for the purpose of putting the police upon the wrong track?"