It was a glorious outing, in spite of the
dust. How brightly the stars shone down on the Sierras! But the further
he investigated the deeper grew the mystery. Dr. Mason told the story of
the sixty thousand dollars loaned by Robert Palmer to the water company.
But the three California executors, reputed honest men, assured the
nephew there was no money to be found. Bankers in Sacramento and San
Francisco were polite but disappointing. All the astronomer brought home
was Mat Bailey's story of the murder of Cummins, a copy of Robert
Palmer's will procured at Downieville, and a problem which defied his
higher mathematics. "Set a thief to catch a thief;" the astronomer was
an honest man.
A few months after his return from California, the tangled web of my
yarn began to unravel. Mat Bailey had reported that nothing had been
heard of the highwaymen "from that day to this." But John Keeler's work
had not been done in vain. O'Leary of You Bet, the Nevada City
jail-bird, had been duly impressed with the handsome reward offered for
the apprehension of the murderers. So every time he met an old
acquaintance he talked about the murder of Will Cummins.
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