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"Can you crawl around there and see who it is," asked George, "or shall I go? It may be a thief, or it may be Ventner, or it may be this boy we're looking for. Anyway, we want to know who it is!" "I'll go!" Will suggested, "and don't you make any racket if you hear something doing there. The one thing to do at this time is to keep our presence here a profound secret."
Half way to the little house the fellow stumbled over some obstruction in his path and fell sprawling to the ground. He arose with an impatient oath and moved on again, but not before the watcher had recognized both the figure and the voice. Will, turned back to where George stood. "That's Ventner," he said. "Are you sure?" "Dead sure!" There was a short silence. "What can we do now?"
But the ever-watchful eye of the searchlight no longer struck upon the wall where the boys stood, and they realized that for the present they were safe from discovery. Ventner moved on down the gangway and soon disappeared in a cross cutting which ran to the right. "That's lucky!" exclaimed Jimmie. "Why didn't we geezle him?" demanded Tommy. "Because we want his help!" replied Dick.
That fellow will land in state's prison if he keeps on trying to murder boys by sawing ladder rungs!" "I had forgotten that, said Canfield. "Well, don't forget that this man Ventner is playing the chief villain's role in this drama!" Tommy advised. "And another thing you mustn't forget," the boy continued, "is that you're not to say a word to him that will inform him that he is suspected."
It doesn't pay to fool with wounds of that description!" "We'll be back to the old tool room as soon as they are!" answered Dick. "It will take only a minute to run down there and back!" When the boys reached the cross-cutting into which Ventner had disappeared, they saw his light some distance away. It seemed to be in one of the chambers connected with the cross-cutting.
"And this bum detective is here for the same purpose!" "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.
"I'm afraid he found the hidden money," Will said, taking a scorched ten-dollar bill from a pocket. "I found this back there, where the pillar fell. I guess he found the cash all right!" "And that's a nice thing, too!" exclaimed Sandy. "You boys kept saying that Ventner was helping you find the coin. You were right about that, for he did find the coin.
"We've been traveling this mine for a good many nights now, and we know it like a book." So Tommy and Dick started back down the passage, the intention being to hasten to the spot where Ventner disappeared from the gangway, and then return to their companions immediately. "We can't stay very long, you know," Tommy explained, "because you've got to have that peroxide dope put on your bites.
"We left two of the boys on guard in this passage, not so very long ago, and they have disappeared. We suspect that Ventner and the two men to whom you refer have good reason to know something of their whereabouts." "They won't injure the boys!" pleaded Canfield. "We don't mean to give them a chance!" insisted Elmer. "We're going to jerk those boys out so quick it'll make their heads swim!"
As Ventner approached the little side door leading into the breaker, a light flashed in the window of the room which the boys had occupied, and directly Canfield's voice was heard asking: "Who's there?" "Now if he's on the square, he'll answer!" whispered Will.
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