Suddenly he sat up straight in his saddle. Here, should Baker and
the Modoc Mining Company prove to be one and the same, was the evidence
of fraudulent intent! Would his word suffice? Painfully reconstructing
the half-forgotten picture, he finally placed the burly figure of
Welton. Welton was there too. His corroboration would make the testimony
irrefutable.
Certainties now rushed to Bob's mind in flocks. If he had been stupid in
the matter, it was evident that Baker and Oldham had not. The fight in
Durham was now explained. All the demagogic arousing of the populace,
the heavy guns brought to bear in the newspaper world, the pressure
exerted through political levers, even the concerted attacks on the
Service from the floors of Congress traced, by no great stretch of
probabilities, to the efforts of the Power Company to stop investigation
before it should reach their stealings. That, as California John had
said, was the first defence. If all investigation could be called off,
naturally Baker was safe. Now that he realized the investigation must,
in the natural course of events, come to his holdings, what would be his
second line?
Of course, he knew that Bob possessed the only testimony that could
seriously damage him.
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