Part 23 (1/2)
”Yes, though where he received his information is more than I know.
Upon his return to his home, Mr. Carson immediately made good the two hundred thousand dollars taken from the Night and Day bank and employed detectives to look up the missing coin.
”Is Ventner one of them?” asked Will.
”I don't think so,” replied Elmer. ”We were sent here to look through the mine, with the understanding that you were to come on from Chicago in a few days. Mr. Horton recommended you to Mr. Burlingame and so you were employed.”
”Then this detective has no right here at all?”
”None whatever, so far as I can make out.”
”Then why not fire him?”
”Because he may accidentally run across the money some day.”
”If he does, he'll get away with it!” declared George.
”No, he won't,” answered Elmer, ”He'll be watched every minute from now on. You may be sure of that!”
”But you didn't seem to know what he was doing tonight,” laughed Will.
”But I knew enough to come to the right place for the information I desired,” replied Elmer.
”Strange thing Tommy and d.i.c.k don't come!” Sandy exclaimed, stepping to the door of the old tool house and listening intently. ”They should I have been here a long time ago!”
”Perhaps they've b.u.t.ted into Ventner,” suggested Jimmie.
”They wouldn't do that,” Elmer replied. ”Every blow he strikes with his pick saves us the trouble of making one.”
”You don't think he had any directions from anyone, do you?” asked Will. ”You don't think he knows, where to look for the money any more than you do?”
”No, I think he just heard of the loss of the money and came down here on his own account.”
”Well, if he's using dynamite in the mine,” Will continued, ”he ought to be turned out of it. If Mr. Carson really hid two hundred thousand dollars in currency in here, it's in some little pocket easy to find if we get into the right chamber. The use of dynamite might bury it twenty feet deep under a load of shale that would never be removed!”
”That's a fact!” cried Elmer.
The boys now stepped to the door and listened again, attracted by the sound of running feet.
”There's something doing!” exclaimed Sandy. ”When Tommy comes home on a run, there's always something going on.”
Directly the boys came panting up, stopping in the doorway to look behind them. They were both well winded.
”That b.u.m detective back there,” Tommy exclaimed as soon as he could catch his breath, ”is putting in dynamite enough to blow up the whole mine. He's attaching a long fuse, so he can get out before the explosion comes. We tried to get down far enough to choke off the fuse, but couldn't do it. In just about another minute, you'll hear something like a Fourth of July celebration!”
CHAPTER XVII
THE SIGNS IN STONES