Clay hoped that he was not, and did not consider it probable that he was, for it did not seem likely to him that the boy would venture out into the open with King so eager on his track. Presently the clamor at the pier died out and the night was still again. Tom huddled closer to Clay and pressed a folded paper into his hand.
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” he asked, shivering.
Clay sheltered his electric and opened the paper. Then he was silent for some moments. He wanted to think out this new complication.
The paper showed two rude drawings, duplicates of those which he had seen on the papers taken from the belt! There were the “X” and the sunburst, surrounded by letters and figures! The boy was puzzled.
“What do these drawings mean?” he asked. “Where did they come from?”
“Don got them out of Trumbull’s handbag,” was the evasive reply. “He stole them! That is, he stole the originals. It was the papers he sought when he stole the handbag. He did not know that the fifty thousand dollars were in the bag when he took it, but he kept the money, just the same, and will restore it to its rightful owner as soon as he finds him.”
This was another phase of the matter! The larceny of the money was only incidental! The mysterious drawings were the important things. Then Tom went on to state that the series of drawings was not complete, that there was one missing, without which the others were worthless, and that one could be found in an old house at Yuma, which accounted for the boys making that city their objective point in leaving Chicago! Clay thought he saw a chance to recompense Don, in a measure, for the loss of the money.
“Do you know where this old house is?” he asked, in a moment.
Tom said that he did, and for a long time the boys discussed the advisability of making the search for the third paper that very night. Clay was anxious to do so, for reasons already known, and at last Tom consented, saying that it would be a short trip.
And at daybreak, when the boys awoke, the two had not returned!