"Not at all. You have done me no harm. You were meaning to arrest me, to be sure, but you didn't, and I have no hard feelings against you. I will do you a good turn if you will let me, especially as this Carden is a bad fellow. He tried to kill Robert Rudd, to-night."
"What, the boy rider?"
"Yes. Robert caught him stealing, or trying to steal, from his locker, and this led to his discharge. He threw a rock at the boy's horse, and he was thrown."
At another time Tarbox might possibly have felt rejoiced that the boy against whom he himself felt a spite had met with an accident, but now he felt too anxious about his own property to concern himself about other matters.
By this time they had reached the solitary barn.
Charlie got down on his knees and peered through the same crevice which Carden had used in the afternoon.
"He's there!" he exclaimed in excitement, "and he's got a lighted candle."
"What is he doing?" asked Tarbox in agitation.
"He's digging."