“Why does it look worse for us than for the two men who were in the
house with us?” asked Clay. “They had as fair a chance to do the
shooting as we did, and they are none too good to shoot a man in the
back!”
“But Alex’s gun is the one that did the work,” King explained, still
smiling, “and he came out of the house, an instant after the man fell,
with it, still smoking, in his hand! You’ll have to account for the gun
getting away from him, and then back into his hand the next instant!”
“I can do that, all right,” Case hastened to say, motioning to Alex to
keep still. “When we went into the house we found Captain Joe tied up in
a sleeping room off the sitting room, at the front of the house. There
was a heavy bag tied over the dog’s head, to keep him still, I suppose,
and Alex laid his gun on a chair by the door of the sleeping room while
he took the bag off.”
“Was the chair in the sitting room or the bedroom?” asked King,
critically.
“It was in the sitting room, and Alex put it there because he rushed for
the dog the instant we saw him in that plight, laying his gun, which he
carried in his hand, on the first convenient thing he came to. It was
dark in the house, with the windows all nailed up, and I was carrying an
electric flashlight.”
“Where was the gun the next time you saw it, Alex?” asked King, gravely.
“It was on the floor, just outside the sleeping room door. I didn’t see
it after I laid it on the chair until the shots had been fired. When I
picked it up it was smoking. Some one grabbed it and fired, then threw
it on the floor. It was done to get us into trouble!”
There was a short, gloomy silence, and then Clay asked:
“Mr. King, where were the men when you entered the house?”
“I did not see them when I first entered,” answered the deputy, with a
quiet smile. “They were somewhere ahead of me.”
“When did you first see them?” questioned Don, in a moment.
“I was in the room back of the sitting room when the shots were fired
and I naturally rushed forward, thinking that Trumbull had been foolish
enough to do some shooting. When I passed through the rear door to the
sitting room, the two men were in a back corner of the apartment, and
Alex stood in front of the sleeping room with the smoking gun in his
hand.”
“Did you hear any noise after the firing of the shots?”
“Several. Tell me the sort of noise you refer to.”
“A noise like the sliding of a metal substance across a bare floor.”
“You have the detective instinct, son,” King replied, with a grin. “Yes,
I did hear a noise which might have been made by a gun sliding across a
bare floor! But we’ll talk of that later. What I want to know now is
what these men said to you boys this morning.”
“So you know of that, too?” asked Clay, in amazement.
Very briefly the boy then told of the morning interview, adding:
“They said they’d shoot any one who tried to enter the house.”
“But why are they guarding the house?” asked Case. “Why did they shoot
Trumbull when he entered? They must have a notion that there is
something of great value hidden there.”
“That’s the idea!” King agreed. “They think there’s a third paper
somewhere in the shack! What do you think about it, boys?”
“Say!” Alex broke in. “We found the sunburst and the big ‘X’ this
morning! If you’ll go at ten some day where we were at six, you’ll see
something! We just happened to notice the wall, when we came to the top
of a shelf, and there the things were!”
“And so you think you can find the treasure—if there is one hidden
here—without the aid of the third paper?” asked the deputy.
“I can tell you better after I see where the sun-line touches the
formation we called a sunburst at ten o’clock,” Alex answered.
“I’ll go with you to-morrow at ten o’clock,” King declared.
“I should think you’d be taking us to jail!” Alex grinned.
“You ought to be taken to jail for breaking into that house,” King
laughed, “but if you’ll go get fish enough for us five and a couple of
more fish-hungry people, I’ll let you remain at liberty a little
longer!”
“If you think I’m going to catch fish for those big stiffs, you have
another think coming!” Alex answered. “I’ll catch fish for you, but not
for the others!”
“Other people came in here with me,” King went on. “They’ll be here
directly, I think. There! That’s their knock, now!”
The “knock” was the sharp report of a pistol. King started away in the
rowboat, leaving the boys gathered on the deck of the _Rambler_, all
anxious to be moving, yet not caring to swim ashore.
Directly the officer came back around a bend in the wall of rock. In the
boat was a man Don recognized on the instant.
“That’s Myron G. Frost, the manager of the bank where I worked!” he
explained. “I guess he’s come out after me and the handbag!”
“Where do you think he came from?” asked Case. “How long has he been
prowling around here? You don’t think he’s the ghost, do you?”
All these questions were asked at random, and to no one in particular,
as King rowed the banker to the _Rambler_. Don moved back as Frost
stepped on the deck, but the banker seized the boy by the hand and gave
him a friendly little shake.
“You little runaway!” he cried. “I’ll keep track of you after this.”
“Where’s the use?” asked Don, dolefully. “I’m going to be put in jail
for murder!”
“Poor Trumbull!” said Frost. “He was a crook, but he was trying to do
the right thing when he was shot down! That was a brutal crime!”
“But you can’t lay it to me!” Alex declared. “I didn’t do it!”
The banker looked at King questioningly.
“Don’t they know?” he asked, and King smiled and shook his head.
“Flint did the shooting,” the banker said, then. “King and I came near
seeing it done! We came to the door of the sitting room at the moment
Flint was sliding the gun over the bare floor to the place where Alex
found it. We, Trumbull, King, myself, and—well, one more!—came up here
together last night and camped out not far from the old mine, with
others! We saw you boys entering the shack, and King and myself followed
on after you, while Trumbull went to the front door to head you off if
you tried to run away from us.
“You see,” continued the banker, with a smile, “we did not know exactly
what view you would take of our following you up here! I came near going
to the front door, instead of Trumbull, but he had the key and thought
it advisable to go that way in, himself. If I had, I presume I should
have been shot, just as he was. My idea is that you boys would have been
murdered, too, for the men who did the shooting are suspicious of any
one who even looks at the old shack.”
“Why didn’t you tell us of this before?” asked Alex, turning to King.
“You scared me out of a year’s growth. I don’t think I’ll ever get over
it!”
“I arrested you for two reasons,” King replied. “One was to keep the
murderers from doing it. The other was to prevent the murders
discovering they were known to be the guilty ones. If I had done
otherwise, there might have been more shooting, or there might have been
a rush on their part to get away. I’m sorry if I frightened you, boys,
but the scare didn’t last long!”
“The men may get a hunch, even now, and make off,” Case put in.
“You heard that shot, a few moments ago?” asked the deputy.
“Yes; of course we did—and thought some one was shooting for our
benefit! What about it?”
“That was the signal that the men are under arrest.”
“But who did it? Say!” Alex blurted out “You make me weary! I’m all up
in the air! Who arrested them? Where was this audience when we entered
the house? How many of you came in here?”
“Trumbull, King, a couple of officers, and myself—and another!—came
together,” the banker explained. King sent Flint off after the coroner
in order to get the two apart. I have no doubt that each has confessed
on the other before this. They are bad men when well backed up, but
cowards when alone, I am told. Now, what about the third paper?” he
added, with a sly smile. “Have you found it yet?”
“It is up there under the ‘X’ near the sunburst!” Alex insisted.
“There is supposed to be a glorious nest of ore under the sunburst,” the
banker remarked, “but the third paper is in my possession! If Don hadn’t
got out of Chicago so quickly, I should have told him about it, and also
saved him a lot of trouble!”
“Trouble!” echoed Don. “Why, I’ve had the time of my life! But I don’t
see what got you interested so suddenly, Mr. Frost,” he continued. “It
was good of you to come out to us, but it must have been a great
inconvenience to you. Why did you do it? Did King ask you to come?”
“There was a thin little lad came to the bank, one day, lately, and told
me about an old house at Yuma, and what had happened there, and about
King, and all the rest, so I wired King, and we met on the road. It was
the lean little boy who brought me out here!”
“And it is the lean little boy who wants a fish dinner!” cried Tom,
dashing out of a hiding-place in the rocks, above the _Rambler_, yet not
so very far away. “Who’s going to catch those fish?”
“Tom, you rascal!” shouted Don. “Come down here and give an account of
yourself!”
The lad was soon on board, and the subsequent ceremonies of reception
caused King and the banker to shake their sides with laughter. The boy
was pulled about and mussed over, and hugged until it seemed that there
would be nothing left of him! Captain Joe and Teddy looked on in wonder.
“Now,” Clay remarked, when the physical reception was all over, “I’m
going to catch some fish. You see that swirl down stream? Well, there’s
a big one in there waiting for me. See me get him.”
Clay and Don took the rowboat and dropped down with the current. The
river was fairly smooth where the _Rambler_ lay, but farther down there
were obstructions which threw the current over to the west, making a
treacherous passage for a small boat. Those on the _Rambler_ saw the
boys drop down to the fishing ground, and then gave their attention to
the work of the day, which they discussed gravely for a long time.
When Frost brought out his “third paper” it was discovered that it did
not describe the actual means of getting into the mine which David
Durand had discovered years before, or even what was in it! told of the
bonds in the old house at Yuma, and mentioned the mine, but said that
those who found it should receive the proceeds thereof!
So the location of the wonderful mine was as much of a mystery as ever,
except that the boys believed they had come pretty close to it in
discovering the formation which resembled a sunburst on the canyon wall!
It was decided that the bonds and the $50,000 belonged to the Durand
boys, the money having been taken from their uncle. The mine was to
become the property of whoever found it!
“I’m going up to the summit to take a look at that wall again,” Alex
declared. “I can’t get there by ten o’clock, but I can look it over!”
“And I’ll go with you!” Tom insisted. “I want to see the place where our
fortune is.”
“Why not three?” asked the banker. “I want to get a look at the cliff
now, as we may have to blow it down to find the ore!”
So the three went away, and Case and King set about getting ready for
the return of Alex and Don with the fish. Some moments before the lads
had slipped around an angle in the canyon, so they were not in sight.
“Suppose we drop down and see if they are there?” suggested Case.
So the _Rambler_ was swung down around the angle. There a surprise
awaited the occupants. The rowboat was there, far over on the west side,
crushed and broken, washed up on a rocky shelf, but the boys were
nowhere to be seen!