CHAPTER XII.THE DEADLY TUBE.
While unconsciously playing into Follansbee’s hands, Floyd had opened the way for a diabolical crime.
The head of St. Swithin’s had adroitly pulled the wool over James Stone’s eyes, and kept the half-crazed miner from knowing just what to expect; but nevertheless the specialist’s mind had been made up from the beginning. He had planned it all out after receiving the letter.
As for his recognition of the miner, which had so startled his visitor, it had been a very simple matter, and quite within the capacity of one much less shrewd than Stephen Follansbee. Floyd had announced that Stone and Crawford had taken passage on the Cortez. Follansbee had taken pains to learn when the vessel had docked, and when, later, the big, bronzed man had presented himself, the
