In reply to your letter I will say that I am greatly concerned about you after reading its contents, and believe you to be in great danger. In brief, this man Ricker you mention in your letter was an old schoolmate of mine. In my early days I was engaged in the lumber business and took Ricker in as my bookkeeper. I had always believed him to be honest, until one day I happened to be looking over the books and discovered evidence that false entries had been made. I had other clerks in my employee and they all came under my suspicion. I then hired a detective and had them watched. The thefts in money ran into the thousands and were traced directly to Ricker. He was a married man and the detective found that he had been spending money lavishly and far beyond his means. I had the matter hushed up as his wife was sickly, and instead of pressing the charge against him, I discharged him from my employ. The shock of his exposure killed his wife, and he became morbid and several times threatened my life. He finally disappeared after warning me in a letter that in the future he would live only for revenge on me. It has been ten years since I last heard of him, and I had hoped that he was dead. My son, be on your guard as I believe Ricker will try to strike me through you. The best news I can send is that your mother and sister are making preparations to visit you soon. I hear good news of you from Mr. Walters and I’m proud of you, my son. Your father, John Mason Mason glanced up from his letter to find MacNutt regarding him with a curious expression in his eyes. The strange man had taken a great liking to Mason, and the latter found himself in his company a good bit of his time. Mason had come to think that MacNutt wasn’t such a fool as most people seemed to take him for. The leaders of the searching party were far in advance by this time and, as Mason intended to take part in the hunt, he pocketed his letter and called to MacNutt and Scotty. As they rode he explained the letter to them in detail. “You have got to get this Ricker or he’ll get you,” Scotty said, after a long silence. “But I haven’t even seen the man yet,” Mason protested. “I heard Bud say this morning that we are going to call on that delightful gentleman,” MacNutt chirped up. Scotty favored him with a warning scowl. “You’ll have a chance to see him to-day, but I’m going to watch him sharp for he’s the quickest man in these parts with a gun,” Scotty declared, still keeping his eyes on MacNutt and frowning darkly.