aresay they're capable of misrepresenting things to
suit it. I'll confess I found the thought comforting; but I want the
truth, Dick. I must do what's right."

"In the first place, Clarke, who once approached me about the matter,
will never trouble either of us again. I helped to bury him up in the
wilds."

"Dead!" exclaimed Challoner.

"Frozen. In fact, it was not his fault we escaped his fate. He set a
trap for us, intending that we should starve."

"But why?"

"His motive was obvious," Blake rejoined. "There was a man with us
whose farm and stock would, in the event of his death, fall into
Clarke's hands, and it's clear that I was a serious obstacle in his
way. Can't you see that he couldn't use his absurd story to bleed you
unless I supported it?"

Challoner felt the force of this. He was a shrewd man, but just then
he was too disturbed to reason closely and failed to perceive that his
nephew's refusal to confirm the story did not necessarily disprove it.
That Clarke had thought it worth while to attempt his life bulked most
largely in his uncle's eye.

"He urged me to take some shares in a petroleum syndicate," he remarked.

"Then I believe you missed a good thing, sir." Blake seized upon the
change of topic. "The shares would probably have paid you well."

"I thought he proposed it to make the thing look better; in fact, to
give me something to salve my conscience with."

"Anyway, he found the oil and put us on the track of it, though I don't
suppose he had any wish to do the latter. We expect to make a good
deal out of the discovery."

"It looks like justice," said Challoner. "But we are getting away from
the point. I'd better tell you that after my talk with the man I felt
he might be dangerous and that I must send for you."

"Why didn't you send for Bertram?"

Challoner hesitated. "When I cabled out instructions to find you,
there was no word of his leaving India; then you must see how hard it
would have been to hint at my suspicions. This would have opened a
breach between us that could never be closed."

"Yes," said Blake, leaning forward on the table and speaking earnestly,
"your reluctance was very natural. I'm afraid of presuming too far,
but I can't understand how you could believe this thing of your only
son."

"It lies between my son and my nephew, Dick."

There was emotion in the Colonel's voice. "I had a great liking for
your father and I brought you up. Then I t