en what could it have been?
The house was deserted at the moment of his entrance, that was now
settled, for first the cook and then "Maggie" had owned to having run
over to Mrs. Snaffle's kitchen for a moment, and the probability was,
they stayed the best part of the evening. The lights had been left
turned low in the upper and lower halls, in the kitchen and the
captain's den. Army doors were seldom locked or bolted. Any one could
enter, front or rear. A marauder, if such he was in this instance, might
have been there from tattoo at 9.30 until discovered some two hours
later, and been there undisturbed.

But why should the situation so strangely affect her daughter? Could it
be that she, too, cared for Bob Lanier? The thought for the moment made
the mother's heart stand still.

She was writing her reply to his note, when Maggie again appeared. "Two
gentlemen to see the captain, mum," and Mrs. Sumter hurriedly closed the
note and went below-stairs to meet them. She knew well who they were and
why they had come. A branch office of the Rocky Mountain Detective
Agency had been maintained long months at the great and growing railway
station. They had been summoned by her husband, and that was enough.

Yet she shrank from meeting them, shrank from the thought of the
questioning that must ensue. They might ask to speak with Kate, even
with Miriam, but they did not. They asked to be shown the room, with the
storm-battered dormer, by this time emptied of its load of snow. They
asked to see Miriam's desk. Yes, the lock had been forced and by a big
knife. They begged that Mrs. Sumter would not mention that to any one
but the captain yet awhile. They were confident he would soon return.
They smiled at the idea of the paymaster being held up and robbed in
broad daylight by any gang in their neighborhood. They admitted that
many questionable characters were in town--there always _were_ toward
the holidays, and just now, of course, the town was overcrowded--three
big trains still stranded there.

While they were yet at their work, there came sounds of stamping feet at
the front door, and in came Sumter, stiff from cold, but brimful of
energy.

"Found Scott and his clerk, at least," he cried. "'Most dead and half
frozen! The driver's gone, I fear. He was blown or pitched off. The
mules ran away before the gale. Those inside the ambulance were
helpless. Two dropped off behind and are lost. The thing finally
capsized and went to p