Part 47 (1/2)
He stood at the door chatting to Wallace before going on to the station, when Dudgeon rattled past in his old buggy drawn by a borrowed horse.
He did not look towards the bank as he pa.s.sed.
”If I told him I suppose he'd scowl at me and say, 'Oh, have you?'”
Durham exclaimed as he watched the crazy old vehicle disappear along the road.
”You are sure his money is there too?” Wallace asked.
”Quite.”
”That's curious.”
”Why? It was obviously stolen by the same man who robbed the bank, and naturally they took it to the same spot.”
”Have you any idea who the men were--or rather the man, for I suppose there is only one now to be considered?”
”That is so,” Durham answered. ”Only one--and he may be--anybody.”
”You have no suspicions?”
”I don't want any. If I begin suspecting different persons I may miss the real individual. As matters stand, I know where, sooner or later, I shall meet him under conditions which will identify him as the man I want. The trap is set and the bird will be caught. That is all I can say.”
”Have you heard what they are saying in the town?”
”I've heard a good deal one way and another, but not to-day, as I have been away since dawn. Is it anything special?”
”Someone started the yarn last night, so Gale told me. There's an idea that old Mr. Dudgeon is at the back of the whole affair; that he hired the man they call the Rider to rob the bank in the first instance, so as to prevent the sale of Waroona Downs being completed. Eustace is supposed to have been bribed to join the conspiracy.”
”That's rather an ingenious theory. Whose is it?”
”One of the men in the town; Gale did not mention his name. But he has evolved a very workable theory--at least to my mind.”
”Let me hear it all,” Durham said.
”Well, when the bank had been robbed, and the second lot of gold was hurried forward in time to save the situation, one part of the scheme failed, for the sale of the property was completed. The Rider and his mate--Eustace, as is generally believed--went out to Taloona to settle up with the old man. They found you there and, to blind you as to the real character of Dudgeon, they pretended to make him a prisoner. Then you showed fight, Dudgeon was shot by the bullet intended for you, the lamp was upset, and the place set on fire just as the troopers I sent arrived on the scene.”
”That sounds all right as far as it goes. Is there any more?”
”Oh, yes. Dudgeon being laid up delayed the settlement and the pair had to wait--every time up to last night that the white horses have been seen was on the Taloona road, you may remember, which adds colour to the theory. Then they got tired of waiting and quarrelled between themselves, with the result that one of them got killed. The general idea is that they quarrelled over the division of the spoil, and, seeing what you have discovered to-day, I am inclined to agree with it. Last night's escapade was sheer bravado to mock at you and Brennan. What do you think of the idea?”
”Oh, it's all right, as far as it goes. When my man walks into the trap waiting for him I may be able to tell you whether it is the correct solution, but, for the present, I should neither accept nor reject it.”
”That is all you have to say about it?”
”That is all; and now I must get along to the station. I'll be back in an hour or so to tell Harding where to meet me.”
It was just on sunset when he returned to arrange for Harding to go out with him about midnight. With Harding and Wallace he was standing at the private entrance of the bank when, with a clatter, there dashed down the road the horse and buggy in which Dudgeon had driven by during the afternoon.
The horse was galloping with the reins trailing behind it, the splash-board was smashed and hanging loose, striking the horse at every stride and adding to its panic.