“I don’t live here—not regularly,” said Tibbits. “My uncle lives here, and I’m taking care of the place while he and his family are in Germany.” A sly leer accompanied the words. “It was only by chance that I happened to be in the hotel, this morning, and also by chance that I overheard Motor Matt reading that letter from Arizona. It looked like a fine opportunity to get hold of some easy money. I’m a black sheep. My uncle, who owns this place, thinks I’ve reformed, but he’s mistaken. When opportunity knocks at my door, she finds me hospitable. How long did it take me to find Dimmock after I learned the contents of that letter, discovered what Joe McGlory was going to do, and where he was to meet Motor Matt after he had done it? Just fifteen minutes, by the watch. Dimmock—his real name is not that—is a gentleman of fallen fortunes. Wall Street ruined him. He was as anxious as I to pick up a little ready money, and he and Pearl entered heartily into the spirit of the adventure. Dimmock knew Sanders. In happier days, Sanders used to be Dimmock’s chauffeur. I left Dimmock, Pearl, and Sanders to take care of Motor Matt, while I gave my attention to McGlory. I had to have a car and a chauffeur, but I knew where to find them. Pearl is to play the rôle of Joe McGlory, and I’ve a lad for the part of Motor Matt. They will dress themselves in your clothes, call at the Merchants’ & Miners’ with the order, and get the bullion. They’ll not have any trouble. The colonel has written the bank telling the cashier to hand over the gold when McGlory comes for it with his written order. It will be easy. Dimmock and I will clean up nine thousand dollars, net, divide it equally, then leave for parts unknown. You boys will be kept here for a week, and then released. Dimmock, Pearl, and I will be out of the way, long before that time. Rather clever, I call all that. Don’t you?”
Certainly there was a fiendish cunning in it all, but it was not the sort of “cleverness” that appealed to the motor boys. They were awed by the very audacity of the scheme, and by the facility with which the rest of the plot could be carried out. Simply by keeping Matt and McGlory cooped up in that house, Tibbits could have Dimmock’s daughter and some one else play the parts of the motor boys and secure the gold.
“You’re one of these tinhorns, Tibbits,” observed the cowboy, “who’d stand up a stage or snake a game of faro.”
“I’m not taking any money out of your pocket,” said Tibbits.
“You’re robbing me of a fortune! If that gold isn’t produced at the meeting in Random & Griggs’ office, the deal for the ‘Pauper’s Dream’ mine may fall through. I’ve got a hundred shares of stock in the ‘Pauper’s Dream.’”
“The deal won’t fall through just because the two bars of bullion have been taken,” asserted Tibbits, “that is, not if Random & Griggs’ men really mean business.”
“You don’t know anything about that, Tibbits,” put in Matt. “But, no matter whether the deal falls through or not, you needn’t think that McGlory is going to agree to let you do what you have planned with that bullion.”
“What will McGlory do?” chuckled Tibbits; “what can he do? You boys are safely bottled up here. Dimmock and I and Pearl and the other young fellow go back to New York to-night. Some time to-morrow, before the bank closes, we will have secured the bullion. You boys will be here, and the rest of us will be—where you can never find us.”
“It’s a pretty small stake to run such a risk for,” said Matt.
“Beggars can’t be choosers,” said Tibbits coolly. “But time presses. There”—and Tibbits pointed to the clothes he had brought into the library—“is something for you lads to put on. I’ll take the garments you’re wearing now, if you please.”