In the kitchen, they discovered a stove and a complete array of pots and pans. A calendar was hanging on the wall. Harry pointed it out to Carter. The calendar was five years old.
“Do you think the place can have been deserted that long?” questioned Carter, in a tone of surprise.
“Very probably,” said Harry. “The calendar looks like good evidence.”
“But the furniture — the utensils?”
“No one touches anything in this country. If any people have been in here, they have taken it for granted that the owners intend to return.”
The men went out the back door of the cabin. Across the clearing, they saw a square-shaped opening in the ground — something like the mouth of a large well. Investigating, they discovered a wooden ladder leading down into a deep pit, with stone interior that glimmered in spots.
“A vertical mining shaft,” remarked Harry.
“Looks like galena,” nodded Carter, pointing to one of the glittering patches.
“I think I’ve got it,” declared Harry. “This is considerable of a mining region around here. The fellows that had this cabin sunk their shaft in hopes of a real strike.”
“And then?”
“They probably got wind of a better location, where others were hitting it good. When a rush starts, the first people stand the best chance. Maybe they started out for the Nipigon region, in Canada. Anyway, they took along all that they could carry and never came back.”
“It sounds logical.”
“It’s quite a usual occurrence,” Harry stated. “This place has become absolutely useless. The custom of the forest is to use what comes your way, provided you do not injure it. This cabin is ours for the time being.”
“There is no doubt in my mind,” said Carter slowly, “concerning the importance of this spot. It appears to be the one place that could have been meant in my father’s directions. Our search begins here.”
“Right here,” affirmed Harry, pointing to the shaft. “Who’s going down, Carter? You or I?”
“I’ll take the job,” declared Carter promptly.
WHILE his companion made the descent into the shaft, Harry sat on the edge of the square wooden wall and kept careful watch. All seemed serene in this lonely clearing, but Harry could not avoid the suspicion of possible danger lurking near by.
Harry, gazing downward at intervals, could see the occasional flash of Carter Boswick’s electric torch. Fifteen minutes went by; a head and shoulders came over the side, and Carter rejoined Harry.
“Absolute blank,” was Carter’s comment. “I searched the shaft all the way down. About thirty feet, as I calculated it. Solid rock, every inch. Ends in a ragged bottom. Let’s go back to the cabin.”
When they reached the one-story building, Harry proposed a search within. The two men spent an hour going over the floor and walls. Here, as before, they could discover nothing. Harry entered the kitchen and cooked up some coffee. Seated at the old table, the two held council as they drank.
“Here is the whole situation,” asserted Carter quietly. “My father was a most unusual man. He apparently had a contempt for wealth, despite the fact that the accumulation of it was his chief endeavor. He was also a stickler for perseverance.
“Somewhere in this locality, he has placed a sum that should be close to ten million dollars. Naturally, he must have hidden it well — so effectively that chance visitors could find no clew to its location. But to a man in my position — one who knows the wealth is near — one who is willing to search every foot of the ground — the quest should certainly bring success.”
“Good reliance on your perseverance,” commented Harry.
“Exactly,” responded Carter.
“How about your cousin?” questioned Harry. “You told me that the task would have gone to him had he been the heir. Could your father have relied upon his perseverance?”
“With ten million dollars involved?” came back Carter. “I should think any one would persevere!”
“But if you fail — what of the money then?”
Carter Boswick shrugged his shoulders.
“It will lay where it is,” he decided. “That’s all. But I intend to find it.”
Harry strolled to the window and stared out toward the woods. He studied the terrain of forest, with sloping hill beyond. He felt a sudden consciousness that eyes were watching from amid the trees. He had the same sensation when be crossed the kitchen and gazed from a second window. He said nothing of his suspicion to Carter. Instead, he expressed his willingness to begin the search.
“It’s late now,” declared Harry. “The time to get started is early in the morning. But be sure of this, Carter. We must stay together at all times. The episode back in the Junction House may be just the beginning.”
“We’d better take shifts watching at night,” observed Carter. “If other people are engaged in the hunt, they’re liable to attack us then.”
“Exactly,” said Harry. “Well, we’re each packing a pair of automatics. “We can use them when we need them.”
“How about” — Carter paused — “how about — your friend — whoever he is?”
“We’re not to count on him,” asserted Harry cryptically. “Our job is to work together. We were helped out plenty back at the hotel. We’re likely to receive help in the future. But there may be a lot of angles to this that we don’t know. Therefore, we have to take the attitude that we are on our own resources.”
“You said something about gangsters,” remarked Carter. “The fight at the Junction House bore that out. But what puzzles me is how they got into this at the start.”
“I have no idea.”
“YOU know,” pondered Carter, “I made one mistake. I should have checked up on Drew Westling before I left New York. Farland Tracy warned me that my father was very suspicious; that he feared some one was trying to learn where the money was hidden. Prowlers entered the old mansion while father was away.
“Then there’s that matter of the stolen message. When Tracy left the house, I may have shown, by my expression, that I had something on my mind. I covered up until after Tracy had gone. But as soon as Headley had closed the door, I was eager to start.
“Drew was in the dining room. He saw the direction that I took. I wanted him to think that I was going upstairs; but I went into the library instead.”
“Post mortem won’t help,” decided Harry abruptly. “All we know is that some one is on your trail. There was a mob in back of it last night, but the crowd has thinned out considerably.
“One fellow — he’s the bird who took Room 215 — was on the train coming west from New York. He goes under the name of Antonio Lodi. He’s still at large. But who he’s working for or with, is something that we may not know for a while.”
“You’re right,” laughed Carter. “The best thing we can do is stick to our knitting. Maybe they’ll leave us alone until after we’ve found the hiding place. Then—”
Harry nodded as he caught the inference. That might well be the enemy’s plan, now that the goal had been neared.
Whatever might transpire, Harry Vincent was sure that a titanic struggle lay ahead. It would take more than himself and Carter Boswick to succeed. Harry realized fully that The Shadow’s aid could be the only salvation.
Still by the window, Harry felt a prolonged sensation of uneasiness. Dusk was falling, and it added to the illusion of spying eyes watching from the woods. In an effort to curb his nervousness, Harry suggested dinner.
As Harry and Carter prepared their meal from canned goods, they returned to their original theme. The quest would begin to-morrow. By the next evening success might be theirs. If not, they would keep on.
For somewhere in this locality lay Carter Boswick’s heritage. Time and trouble would be no barriers. The quest would not end until success had come.