He knew too much, and he was
eager to tell all he knew.
Macdonald's lieutenant got busy at once with plans to abduct Holt. That
it was very much against the law did not disturb him much so long as his
chief stood back of him. The unsupported word of the old man would not
stand in court, and if he became obstreperous they could always have him
locked up as a lunatic. The very pose of the old miner--the make-believe
pretension that he was half a fool--would lend itself to such a charge.
"We'll send the old man off on a prospecting trip with some of the
boys," explained Selfridge to Rowland. "That way we'll kill two birds.
He's back on his assessment work. The time limit will be up before he
returns and we'll start a contest for the claim."
Howland made no comment. He was an engineer and not a politician. In his
position it was impossible for him not to know that a good deal about
the legal status of the Macdonald claims was irregular. But he was a
firm believer in a wide-open Alaska, in the use of the Territory by
those who had settled it. The men back of the big Scotchman were going
to spend millions in development work, in building railroads. It would
help labor and business.
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