all? He may have gone hunting--or to Denver--or Los Angeles."

"No, he didn't do any one of the three. He was either murdered or else
hid out in the hills by them that had a reason for it."

"Do you suspect some one?"

"I do," answered Ryan promptly. "If he was killed, two tinhorn
gamblers did it. If he's under guard in the hills, the Rutherford gang
have got him."

"The Rutherfords, the same ones that--?"

"The ver-ry same--Hal and Buck and a brood of young hellions they have
raised."

"But why should they kidnap Mr. Dingwell? If they had anything against
him, why wouldn't they kill him?"

"If the Rutherfords have got him it is because he knows something they
want to know. Listen, and I'll tell you what I think."

The Irishman drew up a chair and told Beaudry the story of that night
in the Legal Tender as far as he could piece it together. He had
talked with one of the poker-players, the man that owned the curio
store, and from him had gathered all he could remember of the talk
between Dingwell and Rutherford.

"Get these points, lad," Ryan went on. "Dave comes to town from a long
day's ride. He tells Rutherford that he has been prospecting and has
found gold in Lonesome Park. Nothing to that. Dave is a cattleman,
not a prospector. Rutherford knows that as well as I do. But he falls
right in with Dingwell's story. He offers to go partners with Dave on
his gold mine--keeps talking about it--insists on going in with him."

"I don't see anything in that," said Roy.

"You will presently. Keep it in mind that there wasn't any gold mine
and couldn't have been. That talk was a blind to cover something else.
Good enough. Now chew on this awhile. Dave sent a Mexican to bring
the sheriff, but Sweeney didn't come. He explained that he wanted to
go partners with Sweeney about this gold-mine proposition. If he was
talking about a real gold mine, that is teetotally unreasonable.
Nobody would pick Sweeney for a partner. He's a fathead and Dave
worked against him before election. But Sweeney _is sheriff of
Washington County_. Get that?"

"I suppose you mean that Dingwell had something on the Rutherfords and
was going to turn them over to the law."

"You're getting warm, boy. Does the hold-up of the Pacific Flyer help
you any?"

Roy drew a long breath of surprise. "You mean the Western Express
robbery two weeks ago?"

"Sure I mean that. Say the Rutherford outfit did that job."

"And that D