"Nothing, gentlemen, I do assure you. His absence is to me
altogether inexplicable."
"Where's Fenwick?" was now asked, in an imperative voice, by a new
comer.
"Not been seen this morning," replied Markland.
"Another act in this tragedy! Gone, I suppose, to join his
accomplice on the Pacific coast, and share his plunder," said the
man, passionately.
"You are using very strong language, sir!" suggested one.
"Not stronger than the case justifies. For my own assurance, I sent
out a secret agent, and I have my first letter from him this
morning. He arrived just in time to see our splendid schemes
dissolve in smoke. Lyon is a swindler, Fenwick an accomplice, and we
a parcel of easy fools. The published intelligence we have to-day is
no darker than the truth. The bubble burst by the unexpected seizure
of our lands, implements, and improvements, by the--Government. It
contained nothing but air! Fenwick and Lyon had just played one of
their reserved cards--it had something to do with the flooding of a
shaft, which would delay results, and require more capital--when the
impatient grantors of the land foreclosed every thing.
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