The Lakeland evening telegram. (Lakeland, Fla.) 1911-1922, 1915-04-30


1T would b money in your pocket
II you knew" said one Of the men
with a laugh. There's q standing re-
ward OF $1,000 for the discovery Of
the way It goes"
Il should think some Of you fell
lows would have pulled that money
down long ago." suggested Dunseith.
There must be some one who knows"
The ones who are in the know are
getting more than the $1,000" remind
ed the other man with q laugh.
Some talk of the conversation
REQ hed the assistant superintendent.
Blasser. and he promptly reported it
to Ogden and his daughter. He was
glad Of an opportunity to turn Ruth
against the stranger, for until Dun
seth had come Blasser had paid Ruth
assiduous court. Now she seemed to
prefer the man from the east and
Blasser was quick to press his ad-
vantage.
I'm going down the road this
morning." he said lightly. Il wish
you'd fix 1t SO that could ride In tho
engine" said Dunseith one morning.
Ogden nodded his assent without
speaking. and after the meal the two
men went across the grounds to the
storehouse. Already the engine was
attached to the express car, and the
messenger was ON hand to check up
the invoice. Dunseith watched as tho
boxes were checked on and slowed
in the car Then the seals were put
on. and Ogden impressed on the soft
wax the impression from one OF the
seals. At the end OF the run these
seals were removed entire and re-
turned to Ogden. who checked them
up. Dunseith clambered aboard the
engine after borrowing q suit OF over
alls, and the engine pulled out to
hook on to the train Of ore cars that
completed the load. The express
messenger took his seat on the ore
car nearest the express car, and the
train pulled out.
1t was a twelve-hour run to tho
shelters and 1t was late in the eve
ming when the camp was thrown into
an uproar by the announcement that
the leakage had been discovered, but
beyond the bare facts nothing was
known until the following day when
Dunseith turned up on the train and
hurried across to the office.
Did you get Murphy as l wired?"
he asked as he entered the room.
Ogden nodded. II don't think that
he did It," he declared
Not at ALL" assented Dunseith,
but he made 1t possible for the man
who did to get along a bit easier. Did
1t ever occur to you that you had q
60-foot car that measured a little
short Of IS inside?"
whats that got to do with it,"
grunted Ogden.
The ends were false" explained
Dunseith. They contained some
plain ore. q pair Of steelyards and-a
man."
II don't see what good that was
when the boxes were sealed" was tho
reply.
Send for one Of the boxes" sug.
gested Dunseith, and when 1t came
he knelt on the floor beside It.
The shipping boxes were Of wood.
bound with metal. The metal rims
were bolted to the sides and ends and
one Of these bolts Dunseith rapidly
unscrewed with an odd shaped tool
that grasped the irregular head like
q wrench.
Il am something of an amateur ma
gician," he explained. THE construc-
ton Of the boxes seemed to me pecu-
liar and this was the first clue. | sat
over here smoking with Murphy and
when he went on his rounds to touch
the clocks l had q chance to investi.
gate"
As he spoke Dunseith drew away
the loosened bolt and showed that 1t
ran through the side of the box to the
opposite metal band. Once the rod
was removed the bottom could be
lifted up without disturbing the seals
In the least. Ogden uttered a cry OF
astonishment.
Under cover of the noise made by
the train," explained Dunseith, the
man In the car slipped out of his
compartment In the end. He weighed
out the ore and replaced 1t with exact
ly the same weight OF valueless rock.
At the end of the run the boxes were
undisturbed and of the same weight
as before. but there was an exchange
Of from two to three hundred pounds
OF ore that ran almost pure gold.
There were three men In the game
at the other end. One was the yard
master. the second the station agent
and the third the express messenger
on another run. After the doctored
ore was delivered at the smelter the
car was run up to the yards and
emptied Of the stoleo ore. This was
taken into the freight house by the
agent and the express messenger
took 1t up the road and then shipped
1t to another smelter as ore from q
little mine which the freight agent
owned. Murphy was taken into the
game to make things easy for the
man In the car in case there was q
delay here"
And you knew this all the timer
demanded Ogden. Il thought that
you had your suspicious of me-"
Dunseith smiled.
1T was talk" he explained. and
talk that made people look the other
way was good to throw suspicion. II
l really had suspected you l should
have made an excuse for moving over
to the Palace and living there"
There was an exclamation from the
half-opened door and Dunsieth turned