a safe distance. So I jumped in on him.
Just at that second I heard you, Jack, old fellow, striking with the
shovel up above there. I had to guess fast, so the whole thing
struck me like a flash. Millard had been digging, up there, just to
lead on anyone who might be shadowing him. While you were bent over
the spot where he had been digging, he meant to touch off a mine that
must have been planted and laid days ago. Millard, you rascal, if you
suspected that you were being watched, it was your idea to lead the
shadow out here, get him over that mine and touch it off!"

The prisoner's eyes flashed.

"That was your game, wasn't it?" demanded Benson, angrily.

"Find out, if you can," growled the prisoner.

"You've guessed it, Hal," nodded Jack, then shuddered. "Had I followed
this villain out here alone, and then gone to digging, unwarned, where
I had seen him digging, my remains would have come down in four counties.
But, you mean scoundrel, you never happened to think that you'd be
trailed by three different fellows, all at different points along your
trail."

"This is where my account comes in," interposed Eph Somers. "You
remember the village you sent me to, Jack? Well, all I could find out
was that, a few days ago, a chap named Gray had come along and hired a
little schooner that's about twice as fast as any other sailing craft
in these parts. He hired two fishermen to sail it for him--when he
got ready. His crew have been wondering, since, when he'd be ready.
Since he made the deal, Gray has just been hanging around and doing
nothing."

"My informant pointed out Gray to me. Right after that, I vanished.
But I kept an eye on Gray. When he left the village, so did I. The
trail led up here. Gray went to a pile of dead brush that had been
heaped up. He prowled under the brush, brought out a wooden box that
had been hidden there, and, from the box, took a bundle. He started
off with it. I figured that bundle was what we wanted. I didn't want
to take the chance of tackling him and having him get the best of me,
so I started to follow. Just then I heard the rumpus up here. Maybe
I did wrong, but I figured we could get Gray again, so I hustled up
here to help."

"This wretch, Millard, and I had a pretty rough-and-tumble time of it,"
Hal broke in. "At last, though, he gave me a blow in the wind that put
me right down and out, for a little while. Then he got the handle of
the magneto and pumped i