He bent over the wrecked door of the safe and pointed out a rim of some soft substance that had been plastered around the edge.
“What’s that?” queried Frank.
“Only a little evidence of how the safe was wrecked. Soft soap and nitroglycerin did the work. The soap was ridged around the edge of the door, and then the explosive was poured in and touched off. I’ve heard how such things are done. Hold the lamp a minute.”
Frank took the light, and the super went down on his knees and pushed head and shoulders into the safe. An instant later he drew back.
“Those four bars of bullion are gone,” he reported. “I was positive of that, of course, before I looked, but now there isn’t a shadow of a doubt. Yeggmen have cracked the safe and made off with the bars. Here’s a go!” he growled, starting to his feet and giving Frank a troubled look. “When you saw the gleam of that bull’s-eye through the window, the cracksman had just about finished the job. One of them must have been outside, posted as a lookout. He was the scoundrel who crept up behind you. While you were stunned, the thieves got away with the gold. Give me the key to the door, Merriwell, and stay here a minute.”
Burke snatched the key as Frank offered it to him, dashed for the door, unlocked it, and flung it wide, then plunged away into the night. The lad, left alone with his reflections, put the lamp back on the table and dropped down on a bench. What his thoughts were need not be discussed, but they were sufficiently unpleasant.
The superintendent had been gone only a short time when Frank, through the open door of the laboratory, saw half a dozen lanterns emerge from the stamp mill, separate and go scurrying off into the night in as many different directions. A little later, Burke returned.
“I’ve started men out to beat up the camp,” he reported, “and I’ve telephoned to Mr. Bradlaugh. He will get hold of Hawkins, the deputy sheriff, and get him on the trail as soon as possible. It’s a long chance, Merriwell, whether we ever get back that missing bullion. Lenning is pretty foxy.”
“Lenning?” echoed Frank.
“Sure. You know he is at the bottom of this robbery, don’t you? All he wanted the job for was to be in a position to get hold of that bullion.”