Wilson approached. “There's nobody here, Bill.” “Wait over there a minute, Bert, with the boys. Go on, Smiley.” “McGlory is a sailor; Spencer isn't. McGlory would feel safer on a boat; Spencer knows these woods like a book. Do you follow?” “Go on.” “Now, I'm just as sure as that I'm sitting here, that when it came to a crisis like this, those two would disagree.” “And you ought to know them.” “I know McGlory. He isn't the kind that takes orders from anybody, drunk or sober. And from the look I had at old Spencer, I don't think he is either. He looked to me like a cool hand. Quiet, you know, with a sort of cold eye. It doesn't sound like Spencer to put out into the Lake with revenue cutters closing in all around him.” “But does it sound like McGlory?” “Exactly. He's bull headed.” “Then you think the other schooner _was_ here?” “More than likely.” “And McGlory took it and Spencer didn't?” “That's getting near it.” “And who wrote that note?” “I don't know. I never saw Spencer's writing, and McGlory's only once or twice. It's written rough, but it looks familiar, somehow.” “McGlory's work then, likely?” “Maybe.” “But what object would Spencer have in staying behind? Where could he go?” “He could get out of Michigan and down to Mexico without one chance in a hundred of being caught--not unless you had men on every train in the United States.” “You mean he would make for a railway?” “Yes.” “But he would have to go to Alpena to do it.” “Not a bit. He needn't go anywhere near the coast. There's a town called Hewittson, on the Central Road, about fifty miles back in the woods, southwest of here. It's the terminal of a branch line, and it's the nearest point.” “Even then he would have to go through Detroit or Michigan City, where we _have_ men.” “No, he wouldn't. He could get over to the Grand Rapids and Indiana with a few changes and without passing through a single big town. When he once got down there in Indiana, you would have a pretty vigorous time catching him.” Beveridge mused. “This is all very interesting, Smiley, but it is hardly enough to act on.” “Isn't it, though? What earthly good could you do on the water that Captain Sullivan couldn't do just as well without you? There he is with his men, and he ought to do what you tell him.” “I don't know about that,” said Beveridge, with a smile. “Anyhow,” Dick went on eagerly, “the old _Foote_ isn't going to make any more miles an hour for having you on board.” “There's something in that. You seem to be keen on this business.” “Keen! Good Lord, man! don't you see the position I'm in? Don't you see that my only chance is to help you run this down and get at the facts? Honest, I don't see what you could lose by taking a flier overland to Hewittson. It's just one more chance opened up for you, and you ought to take it.” “How did you happen to know so much about these railroads up here?”