“I’m going back to the village,” Captain Tucker said hurriedly. “I’m coming back with a crew of men. We’ll find what’s hidden here. We’ll find it if we have to dig up every foot of this farm.”
The captain was gone. The outer door closed. Dr. Stone still stood just within the room. Outside a motor roared, and suddenly the blind man shouted.
“Tucker! See that Herman Lang comes here as soon as he arrives.”
It seemed to Joe that Mr. Wilkes leaped and jerked in every muscle. “Lang? What about Herman Lang?” Another fit of sputtering and coughing seized him, and he spat violently. “What about him?”
“Oh!” The doctor’s voice was soft. “So you know Herman Lang?”
“Never heerd o’ him. Who is he?”
“He’s the bank cashier who was at this house the day Jud Cory’s father trusted Boothy with nine thousand dollars. Jud came here to get that money.”
“Bah! A likely tale. What am I supposed to do about it?”
The blind man, holding to the dog’s leash, stepped well within the room. Joe edged a little to the side. He had been with his uncle on so many adventures he had developed an instinct that told him when a trap was to be sprung. And instinct told him a trap was to be sprung now.
“You might answer a few questions, Mr. Wilkes. You and Boothy hadn’t seen or heard from each other in twenty years?”