As well planned as was the scheme of those two conspirators they had reckoned without sufficient knowledge of the existing conditions here.

But was this true?
Would villains as shrewd as they be guilty of such neglect?
Besides, they had assured me that the overseer would be notified of our coming.

Suddenly there flashed back to my memory a picture of that murdered man in the rear room.

Could he be the connecting link?
the overseer sent by Neale?
If this horrible suspicion was correct it only proved the desperate character of those against whom I contended.

And if true only the harshest measure would compel Coombs to acknowledge the truth.