stor.

"What am I going to do?" he asked himself. "He has found me out!"

He sat biting his nails nervously, his eyes roving about his office, as
if seeking some way of escape from the trouble he was in. Suddenly an
idea came to him.

"I must get that boy out of the way," he said in a low whisper, which
even the office lad could not hear. "He knows too much. He is too
smart. And I must act promptly. If I can get him out of the way for
two weeks, and before he has a chance to hear from his father, the
property will be mine, and I can defy them all. That's what I'll do.
I'll get him out of the way!"

CHAPTER XVI

SOME NEW EXPERIENCES

Roy passed out through the outer rooms of Caleb Annister's suite of
offices. He noted the eavesdropping act of the boy, but said nothing
to the small chap, who seemed much embarrassed. Then Roy, with his
head somewhat in a whirl over what he had just gone through, went into
the tiled corridor.

He got into an elevator, but, no sooner had the attendant closed the
iron-grilled door than the car seemed to fall to the bottom of the
elevator well with a sickening suddenness.

"Look out!" cried the boy from the ranch, startled out of his reverie
concerning Mr. Annister, by the fear that the car had broken from the
cable. "She's going to smash!" he cried.

Down, down, down fell the car, but, to Roy's surprise no one seemed to
mind it. To him it felt, as he expressed it, "as if the bottom had
dropped out of his stomach."

Roy clung to one side of the iron grating which formed the car. Every
moment he expected the cage to be dashed to pieces. Then some one
laughed. Roy knew something was going on that he didn't understand.

A moment later the car came to a gradual stop, amid a hissing of air.

"Say, stranger, does it often break loose and go on a stampede that
way?" asked Roy of the attendant who opened the door at the ground
floor.

"What's the matter? Did it scare you?"

"Well, it was a pretty good imitation of it," replied Roy, while the
other passengers broke into laughter. "I sure thought I was going to
China. What was the matter?"

"Nothing. This is an express elevator, and it drops from the twentieth
story to the ground in about fifteen seconds. It lands into an air
chamber, as soft as a piece of rubber. There's no danger. I do it a
hundred times a day."

"You'll have to excuse me the next time," said Roy, with a smile as he
got out. "I don't e