that he's going to leave me the gold as my share, being the only
survivor that kept the agreement Here's the letter."
Bob eagerly read it. As Hiram had said, it contained just that
information, and nothing more. But at the end of the letter were these
words:
"Don't destroy the envelope."
"Now what did he mean by that?" asked Bob, puzzled. "Is there anything
else in the envelope? Let's look, Harry."
He took from his chum the envelope that had contained the letter.
Looking inside Bob gave a cry of surprise and exultation.
"I've found it! I've got it!" he cried "What?" asked his chums.
"The key to the cipher! Look!"
With his knife Bob slit the envelope down each end. It was of thick,
manila paper, and on the inside of what was the front there were marked
off in black ink a number of small oblong spaces, placed here and there
irregularly.
"I don't see how that's going to help any," observed Ned.
"You don't? Just wait a minute!" cried Bob.
With his knife he cut away from the envelope the loose flap and the
back, leaving an oblong piece of opaque, manila paper, marked off in
those queer blank spaces. Then Bob began to cut out the spaces along the
black border lines until he had a piece of paper containing fifteen
oblong holes. The holes were at irregular places, and arranged in lines.
There was one space on the first line, two on the second, three on the
third, five on the fourth and two each on the fifth and sixth lines.
"It's getting more complicated than ever!" sighed Harry.
"On the contrary it's getting clearer and clearer," cried Bob. "Give me
the cipher," and he reached for it. "How many lines in it, Ned?"
"Just six," was the answer.
"Exactly the number of lines represented by these cut-out spaces. Now
look!"
Bob placed the piece of envelope over the parchment containing the
seemingly meaningless message. Only the words now showed that could be
read through the cut-out openings. All the others were covered by the
opaque manila. And these words stood out like a message in flame.
"Listen!" read Bob:
"Dig ten feet due east and ten south of Red gate post in buttercup lot."
For a moment no one spoke. Then Ned cried:
"The buttercup lot! That must be Mr. Denby's pasture near the bramble
patch. Why, Rod was away off! He was in the wrong lot!"
"That's right!" exclaimed Bob. "I think this gives us the secret of the
treasure."
They looked again at the message as revealed by the cut-out key. There
was no doubt as to its meaning. Hank Denby had adopted a very simple
form of cipher, yet one almost impossible to solve if one hasn't the
key-paper. He had put in several points of the compass, and a number of
measurements in his queer message and one might have dug for a long time
without hitting on the right spot. But now it was easy.
"So that's why he didn't want me to destroy the envelope!" murmured
Hiram, as he saw to what use it could be put. "Well, I'm glad I saved it
all these years. Oh, he was a cute one, Hank was!"
"Do you think he planned it all this way?" asked Ned.
"He must have," asserted Bob.
"It was leaving a good deal to chance," was Harry's opinion. "Just
supposing Hiram hadn't saved that envelope?"
"In that case we'd be out of luck," Bob said. "But I think Mr. Denby
must have known Hiram would save the key to the cipher. If he hadn't
thought that he'd have made up some other way of letting it be known
where the treasure was buried."
"Maybe it's all a joke," murmured Ned. "I mean, maybe there isn't any
treasure buried after all. How'll we know?"
"Well, let's get busy!" suggested Bob. "Let's see if the story of the
cipher is borne out. Let's dig for the treasure!"
"That's the idea!" cried Hiram. "Wait, I'll get some shovels. We'll go
to the buttercup lot. Hank always called it that, for it's fair like a
plate of butter in the summer time, with yellow flowers. But he never
pastured any cows there. I wondered at him writing about cows."
"You should worry now!" joked Ned. "You'll be a rich man in a little
while, if things turn out right."
Then they set out to dig up the treasure.
*CHAPTER XXV*
*THE KEY TRICK*
Hank Denby had been a thrifty man after settling down in Cliffside
following his life on the sea. Few there were who knew him well--not
even his own lawyer, Judge Weston. And perhaps even fewer knew of his
early association with Hiram Beegle and that the two had formed a
quartette which had dug for treasure on the mystic South Sea isle.
But such was the case, strange as it may seem. The four had found the
old pirate's treasure, they had made an agreement, doubtless influenced
by the dominant mind of Hank Denby, and they had done just as he said.
"But you got to give him credit for being honest," declared Hiram, on
their way to the buttercup lot. "Hank did just as he said he would do."
"I believe that," stated Bob. "The thing of it was that Jolly Bill and
Rod didn't live up to their agreement, and, in consequence, they
forfeited their rights to that share of the treasure which Hank was
keeping for them. So much the more for you, Mr. Beegle."
"Yes, I hope so. But I'm going to pay you boys for your trouble," he
insisted.
"Trouble? There wasn't any trouble!" laughed Ned.
"We've had a lot of fun out of it," added Harry. "But maybe, after all,
there won't be any treasure."
"No treasure! What do you mean?" cried Hiram.
"Well, that fellow Rod, or whatever his name was--going off in such a
hurry with that hook-armed man--they may have found out where the stuff
was buried and have dug it up ahead of you. Their going off in such a
hurry and secretly in the night looks bad."
"No, I don't believe so," spoke Bob. "Rod had an idea where the treasure
was, I'll say that, though how he got the hint is more than I can figure
out. He just must have reasoned that Hank would bury it somewhere on his
own premises, and the bramble patch looked like a good place to hide
gold."
"He made up a good story about it--wanting to plant monkey nuts!"
laughed Harry.
"He sure did," agreed Bob. "He had me fooled for a time. And when I saw
Jolly Bill digging for worms, I thought he was on the right track.
Though it didn't seem reasonable to suppose that Hank would bury the
stuff on Mr. Beegle's land."
Thus talking and speculating on the mystery, they reached the pasture
lot spoken of as the buttercup pasture. But the field was now sear and
brown, the buttercups of summer long since having died.
They had brought with them spades and shovels, and also a tape line.
This was necessary to measure off the distance from the red gate post.
"But is there a red post?" asked Harry, as they approached the lot. "I
don't seem to remember one."
"There's a gate, anyhow," observed Ned, "or what's left of one. And
maybe the posts were painted red, once upon a time."
This they found to be the case, though there was but a faint trace of
red left on the weather-beaten wood now. But there was only one post
which had any vestige of color on it, and this made their task simpler.
The other post had long since rotted away.
With tape line and compass, the latter being one that Hiram Beegle
always carried with him, a distance ten feet due east was measured off
from the red gate post. Then the same distance was measured off due
south. When this had been done, and stakes driven in at each of these
points, Ned suddenly uttered an exclamation of disgust.
"What's the matter?" asked Bob.
"Why, we're as badly off as we were before," declared Ned. "Look, we've
got _two_ places to dig. Which one contains the treasure?" and he
indicated the south mark and the east.
"Maybe there's treasure under each one," suggested Harry.
"That's it!" cried Bob. "I was waiting for one of you to suggest that,
for it occurred to me as soon as I saw that the cipher gave us two
points. It's either that--treasure at both places, divided to make it
less easily found, or else we've got to draw a line from the two points,
making a triangle and then dig at the middle point of the longest line.
But we'll try the two points first."
With beating hearts they began digging at the south point first. The
ground was soft, the early frosts not yet having penetrated deeply, and
as the brown soil was tossed out, shovelful after shovelful, each one
was eagerly looked at.
They took turns, making an excavation large enough to stand in, and
going deeper gradually. They had gone down five feet, and there was, as
yet no indication of hidden wealth. Ned climbed out of the hole and
dubiously shook his head.
"Looks like a hoax to me," he said.
But Bob, whose turn was next, had not taken out more than three
shovelsful of earth than he uttered a cry of delight.
"I've struck something!" he shouted.
Quickly he began tossing out the soil, and, a moment later, there was
revealed the rusted top of an iron box. It did not take long to uncover
the chest--a veritable strong box--and haul it up on top of the ground.
The chest was closed with a heavy padlock, but it was so rusted that a
few blows from a spade shattered it.
The lid was pried back, on squeaking hinges and there, revealed in the
light of the sun, was, what seemed to the boys, millions of dollars in
gold--old gold coins of a bygone age.
"We've found it!" shouted Harry, capering about. "We have it!"
"That's the treasure all right!" added Ned. "You're a millionaire, Mr.
Beegle!"
"Not so loud!" cautioned Bob. "You don't want all Cliffside rushing out
here. Go easy!"
His chums calmed down and then an examination of the gold was made.
Bob's keen eyes soon estimated that there wasn't anything like a million
dollars--only a few thousands at most, but it was a fortune to the old
sailor.
"But we've got another hole to dig!" said Ned, somewhat disappointed at
finding the gold to total less than had been hoped for. "Maybe that'll
run higher."
They soon uncovered a second iron chest, which contained about the same
amount of old gold, and some ornaments which, Bob said, might be sold
for a large sum as antiques. So, take it all in all, it was a very tidy
little fortune that was dug up that day.
While Bob and Harry remained on guard, Ned and Hiram went to the village
to get a horse and wagon to haul the stuff to the local bank. For Hiram
did not share Hank's distrust of these institutions and declared that he
wasn't going to run any more chances.
That there was a sensation in Cliffside, when it became known that the
long-buried pirate treasure had been dug up, and that Bob Dexter had
been instrumental in locating it, you can well believe.
"That boy's got stuff in him! I always said it!" declared Chief Duncan
who was not at all peeved because he had not solved the mystery. "Mark
my words, the police of the big cities will yet hear of Bob Dexter."
"But he can't tell how that key got back in the locked room," sneered
Caleb Tarton, who was a little miffed that he had had no part in
unraveling the tangle of the case.
"Maybe he will," said the chief. "Give him time. They only just got the
treasure."
And when the gold had been safely put in the bank vaults, after Judge
Weston had confirmed Hiram's right to it, Bob and his chums paid another
visit to the log cabin. They found Chief Drayton there talking to the
old sailor.
"I could 'a' figgered all this out if they'd give me time," declared Mr.
Drayton. "Gosh, but when I got to act as postmaster, pound keeper and be
my own constable I ain't got any too much time t' be chief of police.
I'm goin' t' talk t' th' selectmen 'bout it at next meetin'. I want a
helper, that's what I want."
"Yes, you need one!" chuckled Hiram.
"But, anyhow, I know one thing!" declared Mr. Drayton. "You locked that
door yourself, Hiram. That key was never put back in from the outside."
"Oh, yes, it was," said Bob, quietly.
"It was? How?" cried Ned and Harry.
"It couldn't be!" insisted Chief Drayton. "Chuckin' it down the chimbley
wouldn't do it."
"Not exactly _chucking_ it," said Bob, still quietly. "But the chimney
was used. I'll show you how it was done. Mr. Beegle, do you mind going
in your strong room, and lying on the floor just in the position you
were in when you recovered consciousness after you were robbed?"
"Sure I'll do that," agreed Hiram.
The others watched him take his place. Then they went outside on Bob's
request and watched him solve the key trick. The lad climbed up in the
tree that grew beside the log cabin, and in a minute he was on the roof,
beside the chimney.
"I'm dropping down the flue a piece of fish line with a piece of lead on
the end to carry it," he said, suiting the action to the word. "Now go
inside again."
They entered the room, where Hiram was lying on the floor, waiting for
what was to happen next. Dangling in the fireplace was the weighted
string.
The fish line extended up the chimney flue, coming out at the top, where
Bob fastened it temporarily.
The young detective then removed the lead weight and pulled the slack of
the cord across the floor, until the end was close to the hand of Mr.
Beegle as the sailor lay on the floor. With a small nail, passed through
a knot he tied in the end of the cord, Bob fastened the line lightly to
the floor.
"We now have," he said, "a cord extending from this point up through the
flue and out of the chimney at the top. Now if you will all remain here
you'll see the conclusion of the experiment."
They waited expectantly while Bob went outside. Presently they heard him
up on the roof.
"Watch now!" he called down the flue.
A moment later there was a tinkling, metallic sound and sliding down the
string came the big brass key of the strong room. It was guided down the
chimney, and out from the fireplace, the ashes of which it cleared,
across the room, until it fell on the floor, close to Mr. Beegle's hand.
There was a twitching of the cord that was fast to the little nail
driven lightly into the floor. Out came the nail on the string. The cord
was pulled up out of the chimney, leaving the key on the floor beside
Mr. Beegle.
"Gosh!" gasped Ned.
"Easy as pie!" murmured Harry. "When you know how it's done."
"That was how the key trick was worked," said Bob, as he joined his
friends. "I got the idea after I'd seen that fellow in the circus movie
slide down the inclined wire," he added. "And I also saw a little hole
in the floor near where Hiram lay the night he was made unconscious. It
was a hole left by the nail Bill drove in for his string.
"If a man could slide down a wire, I said to myself," a key could be
made to slide the same way. I tried it with a string, passing it through
the hole in the hand-end of the key, and it worked fine.
"This is what Jolly Bill did. He sneaked up, used his gas bomb, or
whatever it was that overpowered Mr. Beegle, slipped in the open door of
the strong room, and took the brass box. Then, to make the robbery seem
mysterious, he came out and locked the door. To get the key inside he
climbed the tree and slid the key down the cord he had previously
prepared. Twitching out the cord and nail left not a trace except the
tiny hole in the floor, of how the key got inside the locked room
without an opening. The chimney flue did the trick. Though when we tried
dropping the key down, finding that it only stayed in the ashes, I was
puzzled for a time."
"But could Jolly Bill climb up in a tree with his wooden leg?" asked
Harry.
"Oh, he was pretty nimble--I watched him use a spade," said Bob.
"And was there an elephant here?" Ned wanted to know.
"No, that, too, was Jolly Bill," said the young detective. "He bound
pieces of burlap bags on his good foot and on his wooden leg--making a
wad on the latter to expand it, and so he walked around, not making any
shoe prints. We thought it was sacks of potatoes set down, but it was
Bill's trick."
"He was full of tricks," said Ned.
"But Bob went him one better each time!" laughed Harry.
"He sure did!" murmured Hiram. "And I'm mighty thankful to you boys for
what you've done. I'm going to pay you--I'm well off now."
However, the boys would not listen to this. Though later, when Hiram
insisted on making a contribution to the Athletic Club, his offer was
accepted and he was made an honorary member.
"Well, I guess this is the end of the Storm Mountain mystery," remarked
Ned, as with Bob and some other chums, they were talking over the matter
one day.
"Yes, the secret of the log cabin--how the key got in the locked
room--has been solved," added Harry.
"Did the police get any trace of those two that ran away in the
night--the hook-armed man and the fellow with the monkey?" asked Fred
Merton.
"No, I guess they didn't," Bob answered. "There really wasn't much use
chasing after them, or Jolly Bill, either. Mr. Beegle has the money and
that's all he wants."
And that, really, was all that remained of the celebrated mystery. As
summed up by Bob it ran this way:
"Jolly Bill and Rod, who were roaming around the country, living as best
they could on what they first got out of the buried treasure, learned,
at the same time, of Hank's death through letters he had caused to be
sent them. They also knew Hiram had succeeded to the fortune.
"They came on to Cliffside, separately, but with the same end in view,
that of robbing Hiram. Rod adopted a disguise he had used before, it
seems. Jolly Bill depended on sneaking tactics, and it was he who got
ahead of Rod. Of course Rod must have known Bill, for the latter did not
disguise himself. But it is doubtful if Bill knew Rod under all that
hair and whiskers.
"Bill succeeded in his robbery after the second attempt, but, instead of
fleeing he remained on the scene and tried, by pretending friendship
with Hiram, to throw suspicion from himself. Rod, knowing he had been
forestalled, hung around trying to find some way of coming at the
treasure. He even dug for it. But after Bill had the map, or, rather,
the cipher, he couldn't do anything without the key, which Hiram had but
didn't know it. As for the hook-armed man, there must have been some
secret between him and Rod which we don't know anything about. It may
have had nothing to do with this case."
"But I suppose you want another case to work on, don't you, Bob?" asked
Ned.
"Oh, I wouldn't mind," was the answer.
"If you could have your choice, what sort of a case would you want to
work on, Bob?" asked Harry.
"A case of soda water!" exclaimed Ned.
"No, cut it out! I'm serious," went on Harry. "I'd just like to see what
Bob's ideas are on the matter."
"I don't know that I have any," said Bob with a laugh. "In this
detective business you can't pick and choose. At least I've never heard
of any of them doing it. Of course one man may be better working on bank
robberies and another on murder cases."
"A good murder case would be all to the cheese!" exclaimed Harry, but he
was not quite as brutal as it looks in print.
"I don't know that I'd care for a murder case," mused Bob. "But I guess,
if I ever really get into the game, I'll have to take everything that
comes along."
"Get into the game? What do you mean?" cried Ned. "Aren't you in the
game for fair, now? Look how you solved the golden eagle mystery. Then
we went to Beacon Beach and you cleaned up there. And now you found
Hiram's treasure."
"And it was nearly a murder case at that!" remarked Bob in a low voice.
"If the blow had been a little harder, Hiram would have passed out. But
what's the use speculating on what will happen next? If another case
comes my way I'll tackle it."
And the young detective soon had another case, as you may read of in the
next volume of this series to be called "Bob Dexter and the Silver Lake
Mystery, or the Dweller of the Black Cavern."
"But now I'm going to get ready to go back to school," said Bob. "And if
we're going to have a football team it's time we got in some practice.
Come on, fellows!"
And with whoops of joy they followed their leader.
THE END
THE BOB DEXTER SERIES
BY WILLARD F. BAKER
12mo. Cloth. Illustrated. Jacket in Colors
Price per volume, 65 cents, postpaid
This is a new line of stories for boys, by the author of the Boy
Ranchers series. The Bob Dexter books are of the character that may be
called detective stories, yet they are without the objectionable
features of the impossible characters and absurd situations that mark so
many of the books in that class. These stories deed with the up-to-date
adventures of a normal, healthy lad who has a great desire to solve
mysteries.
1. BOB DEXTER AND THE CLUB HOUSE MYSTERY, or The Missing Golden Eagle
This story tells how the Boys' Athletic Club was despoiled of its
trophies in a strange manner, and how, among other things stolen, was
the Golden Eagle mascot. How Bob Dexter turned himself into an amateur
detective and found not only the mascot, but who had taken it, makes
interesting and exciting reading.
2. BOB DEXTER AND THE BEACON BEACH MYSTERY, or The Wreck of the Sea Hawk
When Bob and his chum went to Beacon Beach for their summer vacation,
they were plunged, almost at once, into a strange series of events, not
the least of which was the sinking of the Sea Hawk. How some men tried
to get the treasure off the sunken vessel, and how Bob and his chum
foiled them, and learned the secret of the lighthouse, form a great
story.
3. BOB DEXTER AND THE STORM MOUNTAIN MYSTERY, or The Secret of the Log
Cabin
Bob Dexter came upon a man mysteriously injured and befriended him. This
led the young detective into the swirling midst of a series of strange
events and into the companionship of strange persons, not the least of
whom was the man with the wooden leg. But Bob got the best of this
vindictive individual, and solved the mystery of the log cabin, showing
his friends how the secret entrance to the house was accomplished.
Send For Our Free Illustrated Catalogue
CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York
THE JEWEL SERIES
BY AMES THOMPSON
12mo, Cloth, Illustrated, Jacket in colors
Price per volume, 65 cents
A series of stories brimming with hardy adventure, vivid and accurate in
detail, and with a good foundation of probability. They take the reader
realistically to the scene of action, Besides being lively and full of
real situations, they are written in a straight-forward way very
attractive to boy readers.
1. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE VALLEY OF DIAMONDS
Malcolm Edwards and his son Ralph are adventurers with ample means for
following up their interest in jewel clues. In this book they form a
party of five, including Jimmy Stone and Bret Hartson, boys of Ralph's
age, and a shrewd level-headed sailor named Stanley Greene. They find a
valley of diamonds in the heart of Africa.
2. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE RIVER OF EMERALDS
The five adventurers, staying at a hotel in San Francisco, find that
Pedro the elevator man has an interesting story of a hidden "river of
emeralds" in Peru, to tell. With him as guide, they set out to find it,
escape various traps set for them by jealous Peruvians, and are much
amused by Pedro all through the experience.
3. THE ADVENTURE BOYS AND THE LAGOON OF PEARLS
This time the group starts out on a cruise simply for pleasure, but
their adventuresome spirits lead them into the thick of things on a
South Sea cannibal island.
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CUPPLES & LEON COMPANY, PUBLISHERS New York