"What sort of trouble?"

"That's a long story. Did you iver hear of Dave Dingwell?"

"Yes. I've never met him, but he put me through law school."

"How come that?"

"I was living in Denver with my aunt. A letter came from Mr. Dingwell
offering to pay the expenses of my education. He said he owed that
much to my father."

"Well, then, Dave Dingwell has disappeared off the earth."

"What do you mean--disappeared?" asked Roy.

"He walked out of the Legal Tender Saloon one night and no friend of
his has seen him since. That was last Tuesday."

"Is that all? He may have gone hunting--or to Denver--or Los Angeles."

"No, he didn't do any one of the three. He was either murdered or else
hid out in the hills by them that had a reason for it."

"Do you suspect some one?"

"I do," answered Ryan promptly. "If he was killed, two tinhorn
gamblers did it. If he's under guard in the hills, the Rutherford gang
have got him."