The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1915-04-16
He KEY"
BY JOHN FLEMING WILSON

sentry challenged him and stepped for
ward.
."Pm merely goin' out a little ways
for a walk" Wilkerson explained.
"Not allowed after nightfall," was
the response.
Without further parley, Wilkerson
leaped forward, grasped the mans rife
and tripped him. A moment later he
was footing it up to the crest at top
speed, with the sentry's cries for help
nrging him on.
Before he could reach the divide a
bullet whizzed by his head, then an
other. He turned madly and fred rap
idly down into the shadows at his pur.
suers. He cursed himself for his fol-
" when a second sentry appeared
above him, drawn by the flash of his
shots to his hiding place. There was
but n refuge, the mine shaft. He
plunged obliquely downward for it.
Naturally enough, the troopers
thought their quarry was cornered, but
Wilkerson drove straight on downward
to an old working, mounted again.
crossed by a disused gallery and final
ly emerged far up the cliff. On his
way he had picked up a coil of rope.
and when he found himself on the
edge of the precipice and his pursuers
gaining on him he made one end of
the rope fast and speedily started to
descend. But the distance was too
great. Before he was halfway to the
bottom he had been discovered, and
he felt the rope being hauled up. In
despair, with a madman's strength, he
swung far out and then in, dropping
on a little ledge concealed by the over
hang of the cliff.
AS the rope came free in their hands
the pursuers realized that their prey
had escaped them. They peered over.
Surely he had foiled the law only to
meet death on the rocks far below.
On his giddy perch Wilkerson heard
their awed speculations and laughed
silently. Then he crawled away. In
the distance he heard the screech of a
locomotive whistle. marking the pas.
sage of an express. The freight would
be due in two hours. He must make it.
Tom Kane arrived early in the morn
ing to find the camp in an uproar.
The Mexicans had quietly vanished,
Ruth was mourning the loss of the
master key, and the sheriff, staring at
the nov useless warrant, was beyond
words to express his chagrin.
John Dorr alone was serene, though
he realized that Wilkerson had again
checkmated him. But the immediate
need Of the hour was haste. He in
structed Kane to take charge Of the
mine and directed Ruth to prepare for
a trip to the coast that afternoon.
LUCKILY I copied those figures" he
said grimly.
Two days later John Dorr and Ruth
were steaming up the channel from
San Pedro in a launch fitted with div.
ing outfit. The skipper Of the launch
remembered perfectly the burning OF
the steamer and, nov that he knew
the position where it sank, gave out
great hopes Of finding the hulk.
1.-The sea ia shallow there, and the
tides aren't strong enough to move
! her," he stated. THE only thing is,
somebody may have been ahead of u.s.
"W1lkerson couldn't be ahead OF u.s.
John assured Ruth. II inquired care
fully at San Pedro"
Yet at noon his unsp0ken fears were
realized. There was another powerful
launch ahead of them which their cap.
tain identified as a diving and salvage
boat from San Diego.
'Then they'll get ahead Of u.s." Ruth
lnourned. "After all our trouble"
The launch captain and the diver
both comforted her by stating that the
| given position al not far away, that
it was sometimes a matter of days to
find a wreck even If the approximate
location was known and that at any
rate they would soon be near enough
to e whether the other craft was
| successful.
Two hours later Wilkers0n's launch
was swinging easily over the low