O’Hara turned to Danny, who was standing at his side, and said in low voice:
“I can’t say that I am sorry for that, Danny. This is a terrible situation for a woman to be mixed up in, and somehow, I hate to see a woman in trouble even when she deserves it.”
Danny gave a nod of approval.
“That’s right, Uncle Jim,” agreed the young man. “I know exactly how you feel. I think every real man feels the same way. Somehow, we hate to think that a beautiful woman could be mixed up in anything so disagreeable as this. Well, we’ve got this man Brown, anyway, and he’s the real power behind the throne. At least, I think so.”
Meantime, Mr. Southwick was receiving reports from the detectives who were searching every nook and corner of the ranch.
“The ranch is deserted, sir,” said one of the detectives who had come down in Burns’s car. “We’ve gone over every shack on the place with a fine-tooth comb, and everything is just about cleaned out.”
Mr. Southwick turned to O’Hara.
“By the way, you mentioned something in my library about being locked up in a subterranean cavern. You said something about a safe being there, filled with documents of all kinds. Do you know how to reach it?”
“Yes,” replied O’Hara. “It is right under that big gasoline tank over there. There’s a secret trap-door, but Brown and his tools here are the only ones who know how to work the combination.”
Glancing at the three captives, Mr. Southwick’s eyes fell on the little Jap chauffeur.