Argosy All-Story Weekly, 4 February 1922 — page 50: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

wcked as they went back into the living _ room, in which a second door was set oppo- Site the entrance. “That’s the comp’ny offices, sir,” - svered Tom, unlocking it. _ The bare room, whose floor was laid im- “2 _ mediately upon the ground beneath, con- _ tained a huge, dusty desk, and a few tat- tered papers, principally receipted bills, hung upon files; but it was evident that everything of use had been removed, and that the company was not contemplating _ ‘the resumption of operations at any early «And this?” Dean asked, indicating an- _ other door in the rear of the office. -. “That’s only the comp’ny vault, Mr. : = -Srervaise. There ain’t nothing in there,”’ re- lie the watchman. - Something about Tom’s manner aroused Dean’ $ curiosity. ‘I'll go down and have = > look,” he answered. With manifest reluctance Tom took a pragrnenit of candle from a shelf inside the - office, and unlocking the door, lit it and _-preceded Dean down a flight of concrete steps into a concreted cellar. There was ae _ nothing in the place except a huge iron safe i in one corner. = “ Anything inside?” asked Dean. “Now it ain’t no good askin’ me!” the Ee Apeichniah almost shouted. “It ain’t my business I’m the watchman! I ain’t in an- Se i ae Was ah a — _ charge of nothing that’s locked away, except - a see that it ain’t unlocked only by them as has the right to.” Dean, still more curious, took the candle . from Tom’s hand and went toward the safe. it was of American manufacture, but an old = galent—one of the earliest of the dial locks, = ‘having a combination of three letters or _ numbers, corresponding to three wheels within the lock. It was not even of hard- : ened steel, and a perceptible crack was visi- ble between the door and the frame. Yet aoe the safe was doubtless serviceable enough = int a country where no skilled cracksman was likely to go, and where, even if he ap- ae , he could have made his fortune . ~ =n, = _ “You don’t know what’s in here, Tom?” cereen to try the watchman. =a. = = Se <a” onestly by putting his trade to lawful ‘ a + a Me SS ao - See ~ — ARGOSY-ALLSTORY. WEEKLY. - His suspicions were eine that Tom was in possession of some knowledge that it might be useful for him to share. _“ When I seed the last manager, Mr. . Briggs, close it there weren’t nothing in- side,” answered Tom morosely. ‘“ That’s all I can tell you, sir. They used to keep the gold here when they was waiting for shipment.” Dean adjusted the combination, hearing the telltale revolutions of the inner wheels, and turned the handle. There was a small shelf near the top of the large interior, with a compartment for papers, and a small tin box, open. Below were two coarse burlap bags, tied tightly about the necks, and bulging. Dean drew the strings. Each of them was full of gold-dust, just as it had been precipitated by the zinc from the sodium cyanide solution. The value of the two ' must have run into more than a thousand pounds. The look on Tom’s face showed Dean that the watchman must have been aware of the contents of the safe; why he had lied was at the moment unfathomable. CHAPTER XI. IN THE NIGHT. — EAN put back the bags and closed the door. “How long has this been here?” he asked quietly. The watchman was trembling. “I dunno, sir!” he cried. “It ain’t my business. I told you that much afore you “opened it.” Dean handed him back the candle. * All right, Tom,” he answered. “ That’s all I want to see to-day. You have the in- -ventories, I suppose?”’ “We never had none of them things sence I been here,”” mumbled Tom. ‘I mean the list of all the properties of the mine. Isn’t there a list hanging up on each of the premises?” - - “J never seed none,” answered Tom. Dean went past him up the stairs. It -was characteristic of him, before *consider- ing these matters, to do what there was to ‘be'done. He had off-saddled his horse, and gam eee eS == —<_s pe. ills ae z “* <M aan ~ i ~ (eo) any icelo) ook rn - ;