Did the Jap’s eyes suddenly turn downward under O’Hara’s steady scrutiny? It was hard to tell in the gloom of the cave, but he uttered a quick “Yes, yes!” of dismay, and said in liquid tones:
“Papers! Yes, I know. Papers in Mr. Brown’s automobile. You find them in box. Mr. Brown take away.”
O’Hara turned to the detectives.
“This doesn’t surprise me, boys,” he said. “We’ve already got our hands on those papers. Before you arrived on the scene, we took a whole chestful of them from Brown’s machine, and put them in Mr. Southwick’s car. I felt pretty sure then that there wouldn’t be anything here for us when we came. What do you say about going back?”
“I’m ready!”
“Me, too!”
They filed from the cave in the order in which they entered, O’Hara opening and closing the entrance several times by pressing the neatly camouflaged button.
On reaching open air, the party rejoined Mr. Southwick’s forces which were still beside the bungalow.
The big man’s only comment, as O’Hara reported the result of the trip, was, “Just as I thought.”
Preparations were busily under way for the return to the city. The search of the ranch had been completed, and at Mr. Southwick’s order, the huge touring car of Brown had been mended and placed in readiness. In the tonneau of the car sat the crestfallen owner, and beside him was Tom Whalen. To prevent any attempt at escape, the two were handcuffed together, and an armed guard was placed over them.