ent several telegrams to him after that day, asking when he
expected to leave for New York. They never were claimed and the
telegraph company reported that he could not be found. We thought he
might have gone off to look after some of his property and were not
uneasy. Finally we began to wonder why he had not wired us on leaving
for the east. I telegraphed him again and got no answer. It dawned upon
us that this was something unusual. We wired his secretary and received
a response from the chief of police. He asked, in turn, if we could
tell him anything about the whereabouts of Jones. This naturally
alarmed us and yesterday we kept the wires hot. The result of our
inquiries is terrible, Mr. Brewster."

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked Brewster.

"There can be no doubt that Jones has fled, accompanied by his
secretary. The belief in Butte is that the secretary has murdered him."

"God!" was the only sound that came from the lips of Brewster.

Ripley moistened his lips and went on

"We have dispatches here from the police, the banks, the trust
companies and from a half dozen mine managers. You may read them if you
like, but I can tell you what they say. About the first of this month
Jones began to turn various securities into money. It is now known that
they were once the property of James T. Sedgwick, held in trust for
you. The safety deposit vaults were afterward visited and inspection
shows that he removed every scrap of stock, every bond, everything of
value that he could lay his hands upon. His own papers and effects were
not disturbed. Yours alone have disappeared. It is this fact that
convinces the authorities that the secretary has made away with the old
man and has fled with the property. The bank people say that Jones drew
out every dollar of the Sedgwick money, and the police say that he
realized tremendous sums on the convertible securities. The strange
part of it is that he sold your mines and your real estate, the
purchaser being a man named Golden. Brewster, it--it looks very much as
if he had disappeared with everything."

Brewster did not take his eyes from Ripley's face throughout the
terrible speech; he did not move a fraction of an inch from the rigid
position assumed at the beginning.

"Is anything being done?" he asked, mechanically.

"The police are investigating. He is known to have started off into the
mountains with this secretary on the third of September. Neither has
been seen since th