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Updated: August 8, 2024
"We have talked the matter over during the night," Will replied, "and have decided to remain here only long enough to obtain some clue as to the direction taken by the boys in their departure." "Then you think they are not here?" asked the detective. "There is no reason why they should be here, is there?" asked Will. "I don't know that there is," replied Ventner.
"The provisions," laughed Jimmie, "were hidden in the chamber where the rats were, and you're welcome to all you can get your hands on now!" "Oh, well," Sandy groaned, "I suppose we'll have to buy more." "One difficulty about passing in and out of the mine so frequently," Tommy stated, "is that this man Ventner is likely to catch us at it.
They believed that Ventner had succeeded in finding the money, and were certain that, even if located in the mine, he would deny any knowledge of it. "I guess we got you boys into a mess by insisting on having the detective roaming around," admitted Elmer, as the boys were eating a hastily prepared breakfast. "I guess we should have listened to you in regard to that.
Both lads observed that the detective seemed particularly pleased with the statement that they proposed to abandon the search of the mine immediately. Somehow, they caught the impression that they would interfere with his plans if they remained. "It might be well," Ventner said, directly, "to keep me posted as to any discoveries you may make. We must work together, you know."
"They've been lured away or dragged away! We don't know how many men were in the mine with Ventner?" "Well, produce your idea!" Elmer exclaimed. "Well, my notion is that I ought to go on ahead of you boys, walking as quietly as possible and without a light. If there are people waiting to snare us, they'll naturally think we've bunched our forces and are all coming along together.
"And that is the fact that Canfield very foolishly slopped over to Ventner when explaining the purpose of our visit here. That bum detective knows now that we're here to search the mine. Of course he might have received, as Canfield says, most of his information from outside sources, but the caretaker should have thrown him off the track instead of telling him exactly what our mission here was."
"Yes," was the reply, "except for Joe Ventner. He's a detective sent on from New York by this Burlingame person, the lawyer to whom I referred a short time ago." "What part of the world is he searching?" asked Will. "He seems to think that the boys ran away because of some childish prank put on by them the night before.
"But what caused the partition to fall?" asked Will, opening the door for the admission of the caretaker. "No one knows!" was the answer. "If you look about a little," Tommy suggested, "I think you'll find traces of dynamite. Who discovered the break in the dividing wall?" "A gang under the leadership of Ventner, the detective!" was the reply.
As soon as we start away or promise to leave the district, which amounts to the same thing, this cheap skate of a detective finds the break, and all is well again!" "Why, you don't think that he had anything to do with the trouble at the mine, do you?" questioned the caretaker. "Oh, of course not!" replied Sandy. "Ventner had nothing to do with cutting the ladder.
"Your information," grinned Will, "comes a little bit late, but it's all right, just the same. Ventner is in there, and there are two men with. It's a mystery how they made their way in without being discovered, but it seems that they did so." "What are you going to do?" asked Canfield. "We're going on into the mine." "In the face of my warning?" "It's just this way," answered Will.
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