Phoenix tribune., 1920-10-02

The strange CASE OF CAVENDISH


Westcott came back from his mus
ings to this one important question.
The answer puzzled him. If the man
was dead why should Beaton remain at
Haskell and insist on Miss La Rue's
joining him? And if the man was
alive and concealed somewhere in the
neighborhood, what was their present
object? Had they decided they were
riskfng too much In permitting him to
live? Had something occurred to
make them feel it safer to nave him
out of the way permanently? What
connection did Bill Lacy have with the
gang?
Westcott rose to his feet and began
following the trail up the canon. He
was not serving Cavendish nor Miss
Donovan by sitting there He walked
rapidly, but the sun was nearly down
by the time he reached the mouth of
his own drift.
While waiting word from the East
which would enable him to develop
the claim, Westcott had thought it best
to discontinue work, and hide, as best
he could, from others the fact that he
had again discovered the lost lead of
rich ore. To that end, after taking out
enough for his immediate require
ments in the form of nuggets gath
cred from single pocket, which he
had later negotiated quietly at town
down the railroad, he had blocked up
the new tunnel and discontinued opera
tions. He had fondly believed his se-
cret secure, until Lacy's careless words
had aroused suspicion that the latter
might have seen his kilograms to Cav
endish. His only assistant, Mexican
who had been with him for some time,
remained on guard at the bunkhouse
and, so far as he knew, no serious eff
fort had been made to explore the drift
by any of Lacy's satellites. Now, as
he came up the darkening gulch and
crunched his way across the rock pile
before the tunnel entrance, he saw the
cheerful blaze of a fire in the Mexi-
cans quarters and stopped to ques-
tion him.
"Senor-you"
'Yes, Jose" and Westcott dropped
on a bench. Anything wrong? You
seem nervous"
mo, senor. / expected you not to-
night; there was a man there by the
big tree at sunset"
zone of the La Rosita gang likely.
Don't fight them, Jose. Let them poke
around inside if they want to; they
won't find anything but rock. Got a
bite there for me?"
"Si, senor, aplenty."
"All right, then; I'm hungry and
have a bit of work ahead. Put it on
the table here and sit down yourself,
Jose"
The Mexican did as ordered, glacing
across at the other between each
mouthful of food, as though not exact
ly at ease. Westcott ate heartily,
without pausing to talk.
you hear yet Senor Cavendish?'
Jose asked at last.
NO" Westcott hesitated an in
slant, but decided not to explain fur
ther. He must be away, think"
what you do if you no hear at all?"
We'll go on with the digging our
selves, Jose. It'll pay wages until 1
can interest capital somewhere to
come in on shares"
Westcott stared into the fireplace;
then the gravity of his face relaxed
into a smile.
Things are growing interesting,
jose" he said cheerfully. "If 1 only
knew just which way the cat was
about to jump I'd be somewhat hap
pier. There seemed to be more light
than usual across the gulch as 1 came
up-what's going onY'
"They have put on more men, senor
"a night shift. Last night 1 went in
our drift clear to the end, and put my
ear to the rock. 1t was far away, but
hear"
mo, no, Jose; that's impossible
Why, their tunnel is over a hundred