“With some help from me,” struck in Ballard forcibly.
“Yes,” corrected Clancy, “with some help from Pink. Having settled that in our minds, we started along the trail to meet you and escort you back to the hotel. But, instead of meeting you, we encountered some one else.”
At this juncture, Joe and Lafe tramped in with the bag and dropped it, with a thud, on the brick floor.
“What’s that?” demanded Hawkins, pointing to the bag.
“That’s the bullion,” said Clancy, “four bars of it.”
“We gathered it in on our way to the mine,” added Ballard, “and came mighty near being gathered in ourselves by a bunch of men with lanterns.”
“Meanin’ us,” beamed Sim. “At first we took ’em for the robbers.”
Mr. Bradlaugh, dazed by the sudden trend of events, pushed forward.
“Do you mean to say, my lads,” he asked, “that you recovered the stolen bullion on your way here from town?”
“Yes,” came from both Clancy and Ballard.