Lincoln County times. (Jerome, Idaho) 1911-1919, 1918-06-20

Inc eyes or Macdonald, cold anc
hard as jade. fastened to the man
, How do you know?"
THAT dog team he bought from Tin
Ryan Well, he's been keeping it in
my corral. When l got there this
morning it was gone. The snow hadn't
wiped out the tracks of the runners
yet. so he couldn't have left more than
fifteen minutes before"
"You don't know that Holt took the
team himself?"
Come to that. don't. But he had
a key to the barn where the sled was.
Holt has been putting up at the hotel.
l reckon 1t Is easy to find out If he's
still there"
Macdonald's keen brain followed the
facts as the nose of bloodhound does
a trail. Holt, an open enemy of his,
mad reached town only two days be-
fore. He had bought one Of the best
and swiftest dog teams In the North
and had let slip before witnesses the
remark that Macdonald would soon
find out what he wanted with the ONT
fit. The bank had been robbed after
midnight. To file open the grill and to
blow up the safe must have taken sey-
eral hours. Before morning the dogs
of Holt had taken the trail. If their
owner were with them. it was safe
bet that the sled carried forty thou
sand dollars In Alaska gold dust.
So far the mind Of the Scotsman fol-
lowed the probabilities logically, but
at this point 1t made a jump. There
were at least two robbers. He was
morally sure of that, for this was not
one-man job. Now. If Holt had with
him companion, who of all those in
kusiak was the most likely man? He
was friendless, grabbed old fellow
Since coming to Kusiak old Gideon had
been seen constantly with one man
They had been with each other at din
ner and had later left the hotel TO-
gether. The name of the man who had
been so friendly with old Holt was
Gordon Elllot-and Elliot not only wss
another enemy of Macdonald. but had
very good reasons for getting out of
the country just now.
The strong jaw of the mine-owner
stood out saliently as he gave short,
sharp orders to men In the crowd. One
was to get the coroner. second Wally
Selfridge, another the United States
district attorney. He divided the rest
Into squads to guard the roads leading
out of town and to see that nobody |
passed for the present.
Inc coroner took charge of the body,
and Wally Of the bank. The mine
vner and the district attorney walked
The room Of Gordon Elliot was I'm
great disorder. Garments had been
tossed on the bed and on every chair
ma mad been left to lie wherever they
had CHANGED to fall. Plainly their
owner had been in great haste.
macdonald looked through the closet
"here clothes hung. His new fur
.oat Is not here-nor his trail boots.
looks to me as though Mr.. Gordon had
III the trail with his friend Holt"
All doubt of this was removed when
prospector reached town with the
lews that he had met Holt and Elliot
raveling toward the divide as fast as
hey could drive the dogs.
Inc big Scotsman ordered his team
Siberian wolf-hounds made ready
Or the trail. As he donned his heavy
urs' Colby Macdonald smiled with
eep satisfaction. He had Elliot ON
ne run at last.
just as he closed the door of his
'om' Macdonald heard the telephone
ell ring. He hesitated, then shrugged
Is shoulders and strobe out into the
.orm. If he had answered the call :
E would have learned from Diane.
no was at the other end of the line.
lat the stage upon which Sheba had
AIRED Tor katma had not reached the
'adhouse at Smiths Crossing. e
rive minutes later the winners of t
lie great Alaska sweepstakes were "