one man under this roof at this
minute who won't fight for you at the drop of the hat."

"And that one is----?"

The trainmaster jerked his head toward the outer office. "It's the man
out there--or who was out there when I came through; the one you and I
haven't been agreeing on."

"Hallock? Is he here?"

"Sure; he's been here since early this morning."

"But how--" Lidgerwood's thought went swiftly backward over the events
of the preceding night. Judson's story had left Hallock somewhere in the
vicinity of the Wire-Silver mine and the wreck at some time about
midnight, or a little past, and there had been no train in from that
time on until the regular passenger, reaching Angels at noon. It was
McCloskey who relieved the strain of bewilderment.

"How did he get here? you were going to say. You brought him from
somewhere down the road on your special. He rode on the engine with
Williams."

Lidgerwood pushed his chair back and got up. It was high time for a
reckoning of some sort with the chief clerk.

"Is there anything else, Mac?" he asked, closing his desk.

"Yes; one more thing. The grievance committee is in session up at the
Celestial. Tryon, who is heading it, sent word down a little while ago
that the men would wreck every dollar's worth of company property in
Angels if you didn't countermand your wire of this morning to
Superintendent Leckhard."

"I haven't wired Leckhard."

"They say you did; and when I asked 'em what about it, they said you'd
know."

The superintendent's hand was on the knob of the corridor door.

"Look it up in Callahan's office," he said. "If any message has gone to
Leckhard to-day, I didn't write it."

When he closed the door of his private office behind him, Lidgerwood's
purpose was to go immediately to the _Nadia_ to warn the members of the
pleasure-party, and to convince them, if possible, of the advisability
of a prompt retreat to Copah. But there was another matter which was
even more urgent. After the events of the night, it had not been
unreasonable to suppose that Hallock would scarcely be foolhardy enough
to come back and take his place as if nothing had happened. Since he
had come back, there was only one thing to be done, and the safety of
all demanded it.

Lidgerwood left the Crow's Nest and walked quickly uptown. Contrary to
his expectations, he found the avenue quiet and almost deserted, though
there was a little knot of loungers on the porch of the Celesti