. "But what have I said in
my madness, and what did my words imply?"

"From the little I know of this case," replied the Colonel, "I must
judge that you believe Mr. Cragg to be a counterfeiter, and that his
mysterious business is--to counterfeit. In this out-of-the-way place,"
he continued, thoughtfully, "such a venture might be carried on for a
long time without detection. Yet there is one thing that to me forbids
this theory."

"What is that, sir?"

"A counterfeiter must of necessity have confederates, and Mr. Cragg
seems quite alone in the conduct of his mysterious business."

Josie smiled quite contentedly. Confederates? Last night's discoveries
had proved that Old Swallowtail had two of these, at least.

"Please don't lisp a word of this suspicion at present," she warned her
friends. "If I am right--and I have no doubt of that--we are about to
uncover a far-reaching conspiracy to defraud the Government. But the
slightest hint of danger would enable them to escape and I want the
credit of putting this gang of desperadoes behind the bars. Really, I'd
no idea, when I began the investigation, that it would lead to anything
so important. I thought, at first, it might be a simple murder case;
simple, because the commonest people commit murder, and to the
detective the deed is more revolting than exciting. But we may dismiss
the murder suspicion entirely."

"Oh, indeed! What about Ned Joselyn's mysterious disappearance?" asked
Mary Louise.

"Joselyn? He disappeared for a purpose," answered Josie. "I saw him
last night--monocle and all--acting as old Cragg's confederate. Ned
Joselyn is one of those I hope to land in prison."

Her hearers seemed quite bewildered by this positive statement.

"Where were you last night?" inquired Mary Louise.

"At that five acres of stones we once visited, which is Mr. Cragg's
private property. Hidden somewhere in the hillside is a cavern, and in
that cavern the counterfeit money is made. I have heard the
printing-press turning it out in quantity; I saw Ned Joselyn come away
with a package of the manufactured bills and heard Old Swallowtail
implore him to 'play square' with the proceeds. There was another of
the gang present, also; a man whom I had considered quite an innocent
citizen of Cragg's Crossing until I discovered him with the others. I
think it was he who operated the press. It has been a very pretty plot,
a cleverly conducted plot; and it has been in successful operati