“Hum! same old idea about those diamonds still in your mind; eh?” asked Hiram.
“See here,” replied Bruce eagerly, “I’ve got good reason to believe that the trip is worth making. You’ll see when we get to Wayville. I’d like to have you land right where that diamond robber left the Scout and show me as near as you can the route he took.”
“All right,” assented Hiram. “You won’t rest until you get there, I suppose.”
The Scout made a fast trip to Wayville. It was at the same hilly spot where Hiram had parted with his uncomfortable passenger that eventful night that he brought the machine to anchor.
“Here we are,” he announced and he proceeded to describe as best he could the movements of the fugitive after he had left the Scout. “That nearest thicket over yonder is the one he dove into first.”
“Come with me, Hiram,” invited his comrade eagerly. “You are sure he went through that thicket? We’ll go, too. Do you see that?” he inquired, as half-way through the densely wooded space they came to an old hut.
“What about it?” asked Hiram.
“Well, that was a favorite hiding place for that man Wertz I’ve told you about, when he wanted to keep out of the way of people hunting for him to call him to account for some of his misdeeds,” explained Bruce. “How well I remember it! Ever since you described the spot, I have wondered if the diamond thief, who was just such a character as Wertz was, didn’t know about it, maybe visited it in trying to escape.”
“Why,” observed Hiram as they came to the front of the rude structure, “that padlock on the door looks rusty enough to have been untouched for ages.”
Bruce tried the door, but nothing less than a crowbar would budge it.