“But you did find him! However did it happen?”
“After being in Chicago a short time, I got a position as errand boy in a bank. I suspected at the time I got the place that the manager took more than the usual interest in me, and I thought that he might know Uncle David. That was before Uncle died, you see.
“Well, the manager took me on as errand boy, but after a time he kept me working for him, and about his own private office in the bank, most of the time, and often asked me about my uncle’s affairs, of which I could tell him nothing, of course. I had not been there very long when Josiah Trumbull came into the private office one day and laid a mining proposition before the manager.
“I heard some of the talk, and discovered who he was, and also learned that the mine he proposed developing was in the Grand Canyon of the Colorado. He said it had been proven that the ore was virtually inexhaustible, and added that he had come upon papers which showed him where it was. The location was in the part of the canyon where Uncle had lived.
“Then I recalled the talk Uncle David had had with me about valuable documents, every word of it! I recalled, too, that that this man Trumbull had been suspected of taking the letter! I watched him closely, you may be sure! Quite like a detective story, eh?”
“It may prove to be one before the end is reached,” Clay said. “Go on! I’m more interested than I can tell you!”
“Well, one day Trumbull came into the private office with a handbag and set it down on a desk. He said he had drawn a little money and had placed the papers he had spoken of with it. He added that he was going out to the canyon mine to look into the matter.
“I stole that bag. I did not know that it contained a large sum of money. I knew only that it contained the papers I wanted. By this time, you see, I was certain that Trumbull had stolen the papers, that the papers concerned a mine, and that he was about to acquire what belonged to Tom and myself.
“I escaped, as you know. Just how I’ll not tell you now. I should have consulted the manager, but ran off without doing so. That same day I read in the newspapers about you boys and the Rambler. You see, I had no money, save the $50,000, and I would not touch that, so I planned to get to the Gulf of California and go up the Colorado with you! Tom was crazy about it, and we started away. You know what wretched objects we were when we came up with you.”
“But what got the notion into your head that the third paper was in the wallet in the old cellar?” asked Alex.