at day, so far as any one knows. The earth seems to
have swallowed them. The authorities are searching the mountains and
are making every effort to find Jones or his body. He is known to be
eccentric and at first not much importance was attached to his actions.
That is all we can tell you at present. There may be developments
to-morrow. It looks bad--terribly bad. We--we had the utmost confidence
in Jones. My God, I wish I could help you, my boy."

"I don't blame you, gentlemen," said Brewster, bravely. "It's just my
luck, that's all. Something told me all along that--that it wouldn't
turn out right. I wasn't looking for this kind of end, though. My only
fear was that--Jones wouldn't consider me worthy to receive the
fortune. It never occurred to me that he might prove to be the--the
unworthy one."

"I will take you a little farther into our confidence, Brewster," said
Grant, slowly. "Mr. Jones notified us at the beginning that he would be
governed largely in his decision by our opinion of your conduct. That
is why we felt no hesitation in advising you to continue as you were
going. While you were off at sea, we had many letters from him, all in
that sarcastic vein of his, but in none of them did he offer a word of
criticism. He seemed thoroughly satisfied with your methods. In fact,
he once said he'd give a million of his own money if it would purchase
your ability to spend one-fourth of it."

"Well, he can have my experience free of charge. A beggar can't be a
chooser, you know," said Brewster, bitterly. His color was gradually
coming back. "What do they know about the secretary?" he asked,
suddenly, intent and alive.

"He was a new one, I understand, who came to Jones less than a year
ago. Jones is said to have had implicit faith in him," said Ripley.

"And he disappeared at the same time?"

"They were last seen together."

"Then he has put an end to Jones!" cried Monty, excitedly. "It is as
plain as day to me. Don't you see that he exerted some sort of
influence over the old man, inducing him to get all this money together
on some pretext or other, solely for the purpose of robbing him of the
whole amount? Was ever anything more diabolical?" He began pacing the
floor like an animal, nervously clasping and unclasping his hands. "We
must catch that secretary! I don't believe Jones was dishonest. He has
been duped by a clever scoundrel."

"The strangest circumstance of all, Mr. Brewster, is that no such
perso