Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1899-01-30
CHAPTER XII.
The End of the Instructions.


There is nothing here!"
Nothing there?"
Nothing! See for yourself"
The old man stepped in, searched,
came out with drops of sweat upon his
yellow forehead.
''Wen?" exclaimed Capel, excitedly,
as the old man started in dazed way.
ut is gone!" said the old lawyer in
a noarse voice that he vainly strove to
make firm, what have you to say?'
@'To say?" said the old lawyer,
hastily
|'Oh, it is all a cock-and-bull story, {"
cried Arts. There never was any
treasure"
"silence, sir!" cried the old lawyer,
recovering himself. "How can you
speak like that in the presence of the
dead?"
''Bah!" cried Arts. Presence of the
dead, indeed! Presence of a mummy.
Would you have me pull q long face
as I went through the British Mu-
seum?"
II would have you behave"
"You look here" cried Arts, sharp
ly. "You are executor, and this treas
UTe, if there was one, lay in your
charge. It's nothing to me. It is
nothing to me. If it were, should call
In the police.
"Mr. Capel," cried the old lawyer,
excitedly, II swear to you, sir, that the
money and jewels were there fort
night ago. I came down here with
Ramo and there lay the two cases
with their contents"
"WeIl, said Capel, what then?"
''We carefully closed up the place"
"Then somebody must have been
down since and taken the treasure
away"
"Only two men could have done
this, sir, Ramo and myself"
'That throws it on to you," said
Arts.
"And my reputation, sir, will bear
me out when 1 proclaim my limo
cence"
81 don't know" said Arts. ''Sud-
den OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES, and
that sort Of thing"
The old lawyer turned his back.
"Mr. Gerard Arts, this is no time.
for such remarks as these" said Capel.
'Mr. Critic, what have you to say?"
cat present, nothing, sir. am as
founded. You know we came down
on that dreadful morning and found
the chamber intact; besides, it could
not have been forced"
''There were the keys" said Arts.
''But they have never left my person.
There were but the two sets Of keys
the colonel's and mine. Those were
the colonel's set that we found upon
Ramo."
Rather strange that the colonel
should have given you SET" said
Arts.
"No more strange than that gen
tleman should trust a banker" said
Capel.
what! going to side with the law
yer?"
ropel made no reply, only gazed
sea. thingly at the old executor.
''There may have been other keys,
Mr.. Critic"
ooh, no. The place was made some
years ago for a sarcophaguh, and the
makers never imagined that it would
be used for safe"
There was a dead silence.
cit is impossible" said the old law
yer; and as they two passed into the
iron chamber Arts exchanged a glance
with Katrine, while the old butler
stood looking dazed.
''You see," said Mr.. Critic, holding
down the light, there is nowhere for
the cases to have slipped; all is of
plain solid steel, without corner or
crack"
But underneath" said Capel.
Underneath? Look for yourself,
said Mr. Critic; where there is not
solid steel there is solid iron, and be-
meath that massive stone. The treas
ure seems to have been spirited away
That's it" said Arts. "The old man
was not satisfied, and he got up out of
bis coffin and hid it somewhere else"
Capel caught Arts by the collar.
81 will not" he began; but master
ing his indignant anger, he let fall his
arm"
''There is nothing here he said, ''let
us look about the outside"
That was the work of a minute, for
on every hand there was the black
stone-walI, floor and roof, and the
exterior of the iron safe or tomb was
perfectly rectangular and smooth.
What was the size of the cases?"
zone was about twelve inches by
light. and three or four inches deem:
and the other rather smaller" replied
the old lawyer; both too large for me
to have juggled them into my pockets
when I opened the steel chest, Mr.
Arts"
"You held the keys, and if you
meant to take the treasure, you had it
before"
Enough of this" cried Ca7el. cit
is plain that the bequest has been
taken away Mr. Critic, we will finish
at once-fulfill my uncle's. commands.