The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-04-02
9QDI)(r)@A
In the Twenty Million Dollar Mystery
By Harold MacCrath
By Harold MacGrath

York, and he growled not little; but
he realized that he had no choice.
With Hunt and Baird out of the
way might be able to induce Zudora
to take vacation" suggested Madam.
she has beaten me dozen times, and
it rankles."
Suit yourself about that What S
the matter with sending her to visit
Beggar Mary at Craft island? There S
no need now Of putting her out of the
way for good"
But we could make good terms
with the enemy if we had Zudora
where we wanted her
| We'll, that's in your hands. Come
on, Bruce; We may find it difficult to
| get decent booking"
"On a South Africa tub? Leave that
to me. But we must agree upon some
corking good makeup, If we are to
ESCAPE the old hawk eyes of Hunt"
h On the day of departure Hunt said
Ito Baird that it would be wise to make
lYno acquaintance in the smokeroom
They both played chess, and they
Icould very we'll while away the time
at this pursuit, without any outside
assistance. With equal cunning Rad
cliffe impressed Bruce with the fact
that they had better dine in their
staterooms and keep off the promen-
ade deck as much as possible. They
both might escape a casual glance
from Hunt; but there was small need
of counting discovery by hanging
around in the vicinity of the old thief
taker
The voyage was uneventful. Six
weeks later Hunt and Baird arrived
at the Zudora mine and set about the
task of locating the second mine. One
end OF the survey they could locate;
but whether it ran north, east, or west
remained for them to find out. They
employed the services of an expert
miner to spot blue clay"
Il guess you chaps are up against
it, he admitted after the first week
From your map the claim might be
ten or twenty miles north or east or
west. What you have shown me is
merely your mans starting point. You
go somewhere from here. But where?"
Its a wild goose chase, all right"
replied Hunt. But we had to find
out for ourselves. And by the way,
Baird, have you noticed the man with
the big beard and the chap with the
crutches we've been running into late
ly."
yes, I've been watching them, and
what is more they have been watching
us"
Same idea here. Well let 'em
watch. Much good it will do them"
They'll probably carry away some
gems. There is no injunction to hold
the rogues in the leash. Hunt, I'm
about this DEAL" contin-
ued Baird grayely. Il want that girl |
to come into her own. There was a |
day when | made things mighty un-
for her"
That night Bruce and Radcliffe in
iulged in bottle of champagne. !
Hunts mission to South Africa was |
failure, and that was all they wanted |
to know. The crutches of Bruce were
neatly followed out and about ten or |
Twelve fine stones secreted into each I
hollow, then filled with wax. Why |
pay duty to Uncle Sam when it wasn't |
at all necessary.
They went out to the mines for a |
final look about the next day and /
passed both Baird and Hunt.
They'll follow us" said Radcliffe
Let 'em. Wen play a joke on them |
Fill up an old watch with pebbles
Hunt will have his eye peeled for |
bit of smuggling, and we'll trip him |
up. o, he is not so wise as to look |
at the crutches."
Baird picked out Radcliffe to shad- |
ow and the latter lured him to the
of the room. Radcliffe picked /
the watch out of the waste basket |
emptied it, and enacted little come |
iy for Bairds particular benefit He |
replaced the pebbles, smiled, and |
dropped the watch into the basket !
again, then went out. Baird swallow
ed the bait quickly enough. He recov-
cred the watch, but as he climbed out |
of the window he ran into Radcliffe, |
who grappled with him, Baird how
ever, managed to hit first and downed |
his opponent, who staggered to his |
feet, mad with rage. He determined |
forthwith to put Baird out of the game |
for keeps.
There was a large san dune beyond |
he house and Baird made for this, with |
Radcliffe at his heels Had Baird |
been armed he would have waited; |
but Radcliffe might do some real dam |
age, and he concluded that discretion
was the better part OF valor. Beyond |
the dunes train stood on a siding, |
waiting for the express to pass. Baird |
ran to the engineer and explained |
that the man following was danger
0us mailman and was attempting to
kill him.
Ten pounds to carry me to the
station" said Baird.
But my orders are to wait for the |
EXPRESS"
We'll, you can go a few miles, drop
me, and return before the express ar
rives!"
Pm ready to do that" agreed the
engineer,
AS the train started Radcliffe man