He had every confidence that Oldham--a man of
more than average cultivation--while he might contemplate lawlessness,
was of too high an order to consider physical violence. Baker was
inclined to believe that on mature reflection Bob would yield to the
accumulation of influence against him. If not, Oldham intimated with no
uncertain confidence, that he possessed information of a sort to coerce
the Forest officer into silence. If that in turn proved unavailing--a
contingency, it must be remembered that Baker hardly thought worth
entertainment--why, then, in some one of a thousand perfectly legal ways
Oldham could entangle the chief witness into an enforced absence from
the trial. This sort of manoeuvre was, later, actually carried out in
the person of Mr. Fremont Older, a witness in the graft prosecutions of
San Francisco. In short, Baker's intentions, while desperately illegal,
contemplated no personal harm to their victim. He gave as general orders
to his subordinate: "Keep Orde's testimony out of court"; and shrugged
off minute responsibilities.
This command, filtered through a second and inimical personality, gained
in strength.
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