The Haunted Mine Part 8

"Yes; if you think he will want somebody to vouch for me, I can give him the names of all the Germans in the city. Where does he hang out?"

"The Union Telegraph office. You know where that is?"

"I can easily find it, for I have a tongue in my head. I don't believe I will go near that mine at all. I will sell it."

"You had better not. The miners have a story around that it is haunted."

The German threw back his head and laughed heartily.

"I am not afraid of that. If he took fifty thousand dollars out of it, it is surely worth as much more. Well, if you have told me everything, I guess I had better go back to my hotel. I was going back to my home to-night, but now I am glad I did not go."

"I guess we have told you everything that pertains to the matter,"

said Jack. "Do you think of any questions you would like to ask us?"

"No; but I may think of some to-morrow. Good-night."

"By the way," said Jack, as if he had just thought of something.

"Where were you when this man Winkleman was sick? You were out in the mines, I suppose?"

"Oh, no, we were not; we were here in St. Louis. If we had been out at the mines, where no doctor could have been reached, he would have gone up on my hands. Look here--I don't want you to do this for nothing.

Make up your minds what you ought to have and I will give it to you.

If it had not been for you I would never have seen the box.

Good-night."

The German bowed himself out and closed the door behind him. The boys waited until he got to the street, and then Julian took possession of the chair he had just vacated.

"Well, sir, what do you think of that?" asked Jack, using companion's expression.

"I think our fortune is gone up," answered Julian; and then he leaned his elbows on his knees and looked down at the floor.

Jack laughed as loudly as the German did a few moments before. Julian straightened up and looked at him in surprise.

"What do you mean by that?" he exclaimed. "Is a hundred thousand dollars such a sum in your eyes that you can afford to be merry over it?"

"No; but you will never lose it through that man. His name is not Haberstro any more than mine is."

"Jack, what do you mean?"

"You were so busy with your own thoughts that you didn't see how I was pumping him, did you? In the first place he told us that Winkleman was sick in St. Louis; and yet Winkleman says in his letter that they were so poor that they could not raise enough to buy a halter for a mule.

Now, he would not have used such an expression as that if he had been here in the city, would he?"

"No, I don't think he would," said Julian, reflectively. "He used the words of the country in which he lived."

"That is what I think. In the next place, he said that he was engaged in a paying business here, and consequently did not go with Winkleman to the mines; and then, almost in the same breath, he said he could not refer me to anybody here because his home was in Chicago. You didn't see those little errors, did you?"

Julian began to brighten up. He remembered all the German had said to Jack, but somehow he did not think of it. The box was not lost, after all.

"Now, he must have had somebody to post him in regard to these matters," said Jack. "Who do you think it was?"

"Casper Nevins!" said Julian, who just then happened to think of the boy's name.

"That is what I think. He is bound to have that box, is he not? Don't you give that box up; do you hear me?"

"I am mighty sure I won't give it up," said Julian, emphatically. "I shan't give it up until you are on hand. I had better take Mr. Wiggins into my confidence to-morrow."

"Of course. Tell him the whole thing. Tell him about the mistakes this man made in his conversation with me, and let him draw his own conclusions. I never saw such a desperate fellow as that Casper Nevins is. Now let us go on and get supper."

"I feel a good deal better than I did a few minutes ago," said Julian, with something like a long-drawn sigh of relief. "I thought the box was lost to us, sure."

The boys were impatient to have to-morrow come because they wanted to see what the German--they did not know what his true name was--was going to do about it.

"I will tell you one thing, Jack," said Julian. "If that Dutchman goes to-morrow and sees Mr. Wiggins about it, he will get a look that will last him as long as he lives. I ought to know, for I have had those eyes turned on me two or three times. If that man stands against them I shall think he is a nervy fellow."

The night wore away at last, and at the usual hour the boys were at their posts. Casper was in the office, and he seemed to be uneasy about something. He could not sit still. He was continually getting up and going to the door, and then he would come back and walk around the room. When Mr. Wiggins came in and wished them all a good-morning, Julian followed him into the back room.

"Julian, have you some news about that box?" said he.

"Yes, sir; there was a man up to our room and handed us this card, and I thought----"

"Halloo," said Mr. Wiggins. "The box does not belong to you, after all."

"Hold on until I get through explaining things," said Julian.

With this Julian began, and told him of the conversation that had taken place between Jack and the German, not omitting the smallest thing. Mr. Wiggins listened intently, and when the story was done he said,

"Somebody has been posting that man in regard to that box. Now, who have you told about it except Jack Sheldon?"

"I don't know as that has anything to do with it," said Julian, who resolved that he would stand by Casper as long as he could.

"Yes, it has; it has a good deal to do with it. Does Casper Nevins know all about it?"

"What do you know about Casper?" said Julian in surprise. He wondered if there was any boy in the office who could do anything wrong without Mr. Wiggins finding it out.

"Because he has been uneasy for the past week. Does Casper know all about it?"

"Yes, sir, he does. He was there when we read the letter."

"That is all. I will see you again after a while."

Julian went out and sat down, and in a few minutes Mr. Wiggins came from the back room and spoke to the operator, who immediately sent off a dispatch. n.o.body was called to carry this, for the message went straight to the office for which it was intended. Five minutes pa.s.sed, and then a stout man, who was a stranger to all of them, strolled into the office. One of the boys got up to wait upon him, pus.h.i.+ng some blanks toward him, but the stout man did not want to send any telegraphic dispatches.

"I just want to look around and see how you do things here," said he.

"Then take this chair, sir," said Mr. Wiggins. "I guess you will find that we do things about right."

The minutes pa.s.sed, and all the boys who had congregated in the office had been sent off with messages--all except Casper. There did not seem to be any dispatches for him. The chief operator was busy at his desk, when suddenly the door opened, and the same German who had called at Julian's room the night before, came in. Mr. Wiggins glanced toward him and then he looked toward Casper. The latter never could control himself when he was in difficulty, and his face grew white.

"Is this the Western Union Telegraph office?" said the German, wiping his forehead with his handkerchief. "Do I speak to Mr. Wiggins? Well, sir, I would like to see you about a box that one of your boys bought at a sale of 'old horse' in the express office. That box contains something that is off immense value to me--S. W. Haberstro." And he handed out his card with his name engraved on it.