The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1903-09-13

slammed the door.
"Is It true?" he demanded hoarsely, his
hand still on the knob.
"eit down. Brewster, and control your
self" said Ripley.
GOOD God. man, can't you SEQ am
calm?'' cried Monty. Go on-tell me all
about 1t. What do you knowf What
have you heard?"
He cannot be found. that's ALL" an
nounced Ripley, with deadly intentness.
II don't know what it means. There Is
no explanation. The whole thing Is in
conceivable. Sit down and will tell you
everything as quickly as possible"
There isn't much to tell" said Graf.
mechanically.
1T can take 1t better standing" declared
Brewster. shutting his jaws tightly.
Zones was last seen In Butte on the
Sd of this month" said Ripley. I'VE sent
several kilograms to him after that day,
asking when he expected to leave for
New York. They never were claimed and
the telegraph company reported that he
could not be found. We thought he might
have gone off to look after some of his
property and were not uneasy. Finally
we began to wonder why he had not wired
us on leaving for the East. 1 telegraphed
again and got no answer. 1t dawned
upon us that this was something unus-
ual. We wired his secretary and received
a response from the Chief of Police. He
asked, in turn, If we could tell him any
thing about the whereabouts of Jones.
This naturally alarmed us and yesterday
we kept the wires hot. The result of our
inquiries is terrible, Mr. Brewster"
why didn't you tell ?" asked Brews-
ter.
There can be no doubt mat Jones has
fed. accompanied by his secretary The
belief In Butte is that the secretary has
murdered him."
from the lips of Brewster
Ripley moistened his lips and went on.
I'VE have dispatches here from the po-
lice, the banks, the trust companies and
from a half dozen mine managers. You
may read them If you like, but 1 can
tell you what they say. About the first
Of this month Jones began to turn va
rious securities into money. 1t is now
known that they were once the property
OF James I. SedgwIck, held In trust for
you. The safety deposit vaults were aft
erward visited and inspection shows that
he removed every scrap of stock every
bond, everything OF value that he could
lay his hands upon. His own papers and
effects were not disturbed. Yours alone
have disappeared. 1t is this fact that
convinces the authorities that the secre-
tary has made away with the old man
and has fed with the property. The bank
people say that Jones drew out every
dollar of the Sedgwick money, and the
police say that he realized tremendous
sums on the convertible securities The
strange part of II is that he sold your
mines and your real estate. the purchaser
being man named Golden. Brewster,
tit looks very much as II he had dis
appeared with everything"
Brewster did not take his eyes from
Ripley's face throughout the terrible
speech; he did not move fraction of
an inch from the rigid position assumed
at the beginning.
us anything being done?" he asked me-
chanically.
THE police are investigating. He is
known to have started of into the noun
tains with his secretary on the third Of
September. Neither has been seen since
that day, so far as any one knows. The
earth seems to have swallowed them.
The authorities are searching the noun
tatns and are making every effort to find
Jones or his body. He Is known to be
eccentric and at first not much impor-
lance was attached to his actions. That
is all we can tell you at present. There
may be developments tomorrow. 1t
looks bad-terribly bad. We've had the
utmost confidence in Jones. My God, 1
wish l could help you, my boy"
Il don't blame you, gentlemen" said
Brewster bravely. Its just my luck,
that's all. Something told me all along
that-that 1t wouldn't turn out right 1
wasn't looking for this kind of end,
though. My only fear was that-Jones
wouldn't consider me worthy to receive
the fortune. 1t never occurred to me that
he might prove to be the-the unworthy
one"
"I will take you a little farther into
our confidence, Brewster" said Grant,
slowly. mir. Jones notified us in the be-
ginning that he would be governed large
ly in his decision by our opinion of your
conduct. That is why we felt no hesi-
tation in advising you to continue you
were going.
1.-THE strangest circumstance of all, Mr..
Brewster, is that no such person as Gold
en-. the purchaser of your properties, can
be found. He Is supposed to reside in
Omaha, and 1T is known that he paid
nearly three million dollars for the prop
erty that now stands in his name. He
paid 1t to Mr.. Jones in cash, too, and he
paid every cent that the property is
WORTH
''But he must be In existence some
where" cried Brewster, In perplexity.
How the devil could he pay the money
II he doesn't exist?"
81 only know that no trace Of the man
can be found They know nothing of him
in Omaha" said Grant, hopelessly.
80 it has finally happenerd," SAID
Brewster, but his excitement had drop
ped. WELL" he added, throwing him
self into deep chair, at was always
much too strange to be true. Even at
the beginning 1t seemed like a dream,
and now-well now 1 am just awake. like
the little boy after the fairy tale. seem
like fool to have taken 1t so seriously"
There was no other way" protested
Ripley, you were quite right"
We'll, after ALL" continued Brewster
and the voice was as of one in a dream,
perhaps it's as we'll to have been in
wonderland even If you have to come
down afterward to the ordinary world.
am foolish perhaps, but even now 1
would not give it up" Then the thought
of Peggy clutched him by the throat, and
he stopped. After a moment he gathered
himself together ambrose. Gentlemen, he
said sharply and his voice had changed: 81
have had my fun and this is the end of it
Down underneath I am desperately led
of the whole thing. and 1 give you my
word that you will find me a different
man tomorrow. I am going to buckle
down to the real thing. l am going 10
prove that my grandfather's blood is ~
me. And 1 shall come cut on top"