mean
to-day, for it's one o'clock now--and view the body myself. If it is, as
seems almost certain to be, Dude Wilcox, one of the most dangerous men
in the West is gone, but he has left behind for us to fight, and you to
find, the man Checkers. This bill is your clew to the gang, but it is a
counterfeit. As I have the thing figured out, the gang knew that forty
thousand dollars was going to be shipped, but for some reason or other
they dared not hold up the train out there, and telegraphed the gang in
St. Louis to get it. Dude was at the head of the bunch here, and as it
was a one-man game so near to St. Louis, Dude was elected to pull it
off, which he did to the queen's taste. Perhaps the bill you have is the
only counterfeit in the lot. Perhaps not. That is for you to work out."

"But how he managed to get away with the swag I haven't managed to
figure out yet," said Ted.

"Of course, I don't know either, but deducing facts from what I know of
the gang's methods, and from long experience with gentlemen of the road,
I would say that the members of the gang who were killed in their
rendezvous in Pine Street by my unfortunate men were awaiting the
arrival of Dude with the swag. Checkers had secret knowledge that you
had been put on their trail, and when he saw you pick up that red car
in East St. Louis he was sure that you knew about the robbery and that
you were on to Dude."

"That's likely," said Ted. "I hadn't thought of that."

"Well, he got into communication with Dude, and warned him against
coming to the Pine Street place. You see, they had another rendezvous
out in the country, a haunted house, the reputation of which would keep
prying country boys away from it."

"Best sort of a place for a criminal hangout," said Ted.

"You're right, and now that you have discovered it, I'll take pains to
see that it's never used for such again. But, as I was going to say,
Dude's intention was to get out of town, return, go to the Pine Street
room, divide the swag, and skip. He probably left the train at Somerset,
or some other little town down the line, hid in the cornfields until
dusk, stole a horse and buggy, and drove across the country to the
haunted house, and later was joined by Checkers, who had been trailing
you, and later succeeded in getting you. Had it not been for the quarrel
between Dude and Checkers, it is more than likely that you would have
been murdered by Checkers. But one murder was enough for his nerv