"Oh, I don"t lay that up against them!" the sheriff replied. "After all," he continued, "they were careful not to injure any one on the hold-up they"re accused of, and I don"t think they"ll get more than five or six years."
The officers and the boys parted with feelings of mutual regret. They had not had much faith or confidence in each other at first, but in the end each group knew the worth of the other. The parting between the boys and Seth was particularly heartfelt. Although Sheriff Pete had been trying to reach information he sought in his own way, the deputy had faced him down when he believed that the boys were to be lynched. There was many a good laugh after that, in the room of the Sheriff at Lander.
When at last the boys reached their camp and the two men who had brought the escaped convict down had disappeared, Sandy came creeping out from under a pile of blankets in one of the tents.
"What do you know about that?" asked Tommy, pointing to the boy.
Sandy yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Say, what time is it?" he asked.
"Four o"clock!" replied Will.
"Is it yesterday or today?" asked Sandy.
"It"s the day after tomorrow!" grinned Tommy.
"Don"t get funny, now," Sandy advised. "Whatever day it is, I"ve been asleep ever since you boys went away."
CHAPTER XXI
CONCLUSION
"You never have!" declared Tommy.
"Honest!" replied Sandy. "I filled myself up with provisions and crawled under the blanket and went to sleep just after you went away to get some bear steak for breakfast. Did you get the steak?" the boy added with a grin.
"You bet I did," answered Tommy, "and I brought it back with me," he added, stroking the waistband of his trousers. "How"s your shoulder?"
"Fine as a fiddle," was the reply. "I"m not going to have any trouble with it after this! Did you find Chester"s fond parent," he added, glancing in the direction of the escaped convict.
"Sure we did," replied Tommy. "And, do you know," the boy went on, "that we needn"t have bothered about finding him at all. Chester knows everything about the Fremont case that the father does."
"Is that right, Chester?" asked Sandy.
"Now you come on over here to father," Chester said, "and we"ll ask him what took place in the private room of Fremont"s bank that night, and we"ll see if his memory of the things which occurred there is the same as mine."
The boys now all trooped to the tent where Mr. Wagner had been placed and Chester asked:
"Do you know why these boys are here, father?"
"To take me back to prison, I suppose," was the almost sullen reply.
"They are here to establish your innocence," the son went on. "Do you know why?"
The father glanced keenly from his son to the others and finally asked, his voice trembling with excitement:
"Why should they take an interest in me?"
"Because," Will broke in, "you can help us, and we want to help you. We have information that you are innocent of the crime of which you were convicted, and we believe that you have information which will prevent the conviction of an innocent man."
"Do you refer to the Fremont case?" asked Wagner.
"Exactly," replied Will. "And I"d like to ask you now," the boy went on, "before anything more is said, why you never communicated with young Fremont"s attorney. He advertised for you extensively, and you might have held conference with him without subjecting yourself to arrest."
"I saw the advertis.e.m.e.nt," was the reply, "but I thought it was only a trap set by the police. I was determined not to go back to the penitentiary. If I had been captured by the police, I would have killed myself. I had no money, no influence, and it would have been impossible for me to establish my innocence, so I decided to let young Fremont look out for himself. I know now that I was wrong."
"You were in the bank that July night?" asked Will.
"Yes, I was there with my son," was the reply.
The boys looked wonderingly at Chester.
"What took place?" asked Will.
"Fremont was working late in his private room, and the janitor and night.w.a.tchman were moving about the building, from the deposit vaults in the bas.e.m.e.nt to the ironclad room which enclosed the big safe.
"I went there to see Mr. Fremont in order to secure financial help. He had been an old friend of my parents, and I had every reason to believe that he would a.s.sist me if I could get to him. After a long time I attracted the attention of the night watchman, and he admitted me at a side door on the request of Mr. Fremont."
"Who else was in the building at that time?" asked Will.
"No one that I know of," was the reply. "I stated my case to Mr. Fremont in the presence of my son and he handed me one hundred dollars in small bills, advising me to remain in hiding until I could arrange for a new trial. He said when he gave me the money that the sum was more than he had left, but that he would never again feel that he needed money.
"I did not understand what he meant, and said so. He told me then that he had been plunging heavily in Wall street. He said that he had lost every dollar he had in the world, and that his interest in the bank would be taken from him the next day unless a wealthy friend he was depending on came to his a.s.sistance that very night."
"Did he tell you the name of the man he expected there that night?"
asked Will.
"He did," replied the escaped convict, "but I do not now recall the name. I can"t for the life of me bring it back to my mind."
"The name," Chester interrupted, "was Myron M. Dougla.s.s."
"A Chicago multi-millionaire!" exclaimed Will.
"I asked Mr. Fremont what course he intended to pursue, and he replied that there was only one thing he could do if the man he had appealed to refused to aid him. As he told me this he opened a drawer in his desk and pointed to an automatic revolver lying on top of a pile of papers."
"And you left it lying there?" asked Will.
"No," Chester answered, "I s.n.a.t.c.hed the revolver out of the drawer and brought it away with me. When we left the private room by the side door, Mr. Fremont was standing beside his desk with a smile upon a very white face. He said he had another revolver in another drawer, and would use it if he did not hear from Mr. Dougla.s.s before midnight."
"Did you believe him to be in earnest?" asked Will.
"I did not think he would kill himself when it came down to the real point."