“And you couldn’t remember?”
“It was gone—that’s all. I was innocent—but how could I prove it? At the trial, Mr. Collinge was decent enough, even if he had lost a great deal of money; he asked the judge to deal with me leniently. But naturally everybody thought I had yielded to temptation, and was refusing to confess. Once in a thousand times, a jury will convict an innocent man. This was the one unlucky time. I went behind the bars.”
Burk stared at the flickering fire for several minutes, lost in unspeakable thoughts.
“Boys, don’t ever do anything that might lead to a prison cell. It’s—it’s—— Well, never mind that. I stood it, and I must stand it again, now you’ve caught me.”
“Where were you going?” asked Jerry curiously.
“Didn’t I tell you? I’ve had a feeling, all the time I was in jail, that if I could only get back to the Canoe Mountain Lodge, I might be able to—to find the necklace and prove I wasn’t guilty. I had a feeling I might remember——”
Jerry’s eyes were alive with enthusiasm. “You think if you got to the lodge, it might all come back to you?”
“That’s what I hoped. As far as I know, the necklace was never found. If that’s true, it must still be there. If I could only——”
“What do you say, Jakie?” Jerry Utway looked over at Jake, who nodded back.
The convict stared from one to the other. “What do you mean?”