Digging for Gold 33

Digging for Gold 33

“Do you like him?”

 

“Not overmuch.”

 

“You had better look out for him.”

 

“What do you mean?” asked Grant quickly.

 

“I don’t think he’s honest.”

 

“You have some reason for saying that, Mr. Crambo,” said Tom Cooper.

 

“Just before I left the house I saw him coming out of your room.”

 

“Did he see you?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“What did he say?”

 

“He made a blind excuse; said he went in there for a clothes-brush, but

he couldn’t find one.”

 

“Why, there was one on the bureau.”

 

“So I found out when I went into the room. I called his attention to it,

and asked how it happened that he didn’t see it.”

 

“Well?”

 

“He said he was very absent-minded. I think he didn’t visit the room for

any good purpose.”

 

“I am sure of it,” said Grant, and then he told of Benton’s experience

in Sacramento.

 

“If you have anything of value in your chamber,” continued Paul, “I

think you had better remove it, or make sure that it can’t be taken away

by your old friend.”

 

“The fact is, Mr. Crambo,” said Tom Cooper, “we have considerable dust

in the chest which we bought of you. We have kept it secret hitherto,

but I know I can rely upon you, and I want your advice as to what to do.

You don’t think Benton opened the chest?”

 

“No; he didn’t have time. Besides, he had nothing with him.”

 

“It won’t be safe to keep it there any longer; but the problem is, what

shall we do with it? We can’t find a hiding-place for it here.”

 

“If you will see Mrs. Crambo about it, I think that she has a trunk that

you can use for the purpose.”

 

“But wouldn’t that be just as risky?”

 

“Not if the trunk is kept in our chamber. Of course that depends on

whether you have any confidence in us.”

 

“The strongest, Mr. Crambo,” said Tom cordially. “The plan seems a good

one. But the transfer must be made when Benton is out of the way.”

 

“We must pick out the right time. To-night you can consult with Mrs. C.

Then if Mr. Benton carries out his plan, and opens the chest, no harm

will be done.”

 

“I hope he will,” said Tom. “I should like to watch the fellow’s face,

and see how disappointed he will look.”

 

When Tom and Grant met Benton in the evening, it was difficult for them

to treat him as usual. Tom had a strong desire, as he afterward told

Grant, to seize Benton and shake the life out of him.

 

“Did you have a good day, gentlemen?” asked Benton nonchalantly.

 

“Oh, so, so! We didn’t come across a bonanza.”

 

“I have, but I can’t avail myself of it.”

 

“You refer to the restaurant?”

 

“Yes; I am afraid it will slip out of my hands if I don’t raise five

hundred dollars within a week.”

 

“Have you any scheme for raising it?” asked Tom Cooper.

 

“Well, no, not exactly. I hope to find some one who will lend me the

money. If you and Grant, now——”

 

“We need the little money we have for other purposes,” interrupted

Cooper.

 

“Oh, that’s all right. I guess I’ll raise it somewhere.”

 

“I suppose he means in our chest,” thought Grant.

 

 

 

 

CHAPTER XXXI.

BENTON OPENS THE TRUNK.

 

 

Soon after supper Albert Benton went to the village, and this left Grant

and Tom free to transfer their gold-dust to a trunk in Mr. Crambo’s

chamber. When the change had been made, Grant said in a satisfied tone:

“Now, Benton can open the chest and welcome.”

 

“I’d like to be present when he is doing it,” said Tom Cooper.

 

Albert Benton was anxious to obtain a key that would open the chest. He

scraped acquaintance with a clerk at the village hotel, and casually

remarked: “I’m in a bad fix. I’ve got a trunk at home that I can’t

open.”

 

“Why not?” asked the clerk.

 

“I haven’t a key that will fit it. You don’t happen to have any keys, do

you?”

 

“I’ve got half a dozen,” said the clerk, taking a handful from his

pocket. “They are keys that I picked up about the hotel.”

 

“Will you lend them to me?”

 

“Certainly. If you find one that suits, you can have it.”

 

Benton took them, well pleased. From the size it seemed to him probable

that one of them would fit the chest.

 

“Thank you,” he said. “I will return them to you to-morrow.”

 

“Oh, don’t be in any hurry. They are of no use to me.”

 

He left the hotel, and it chanced soon afterward that Grant and Tom

entered it. Tom was in search of a cigar, for he was a confirmed smoker.

 

“I just had a call from one of your fellow boarders,” remarked the

clerk, who knew both Tom and Grant.

 

“Benton?”

 

“Oh, is that his name? I only knew that he boarded at Paul Crambo’s.

Seems a sociable sort of fellow.”

 

“Quite so,” answered Tom dryly.

 

“He is talking of buying a restaurant in the village—the one kept by

Hardy.”

 

“I heard him mention it.”

 

“He says he was in that business in Sacramento.”

 

“Yes,” said Grant; “I knew him there.”

 

“I did him a favor to-night—lent him some keys,” continued the clerk.

 

As may be imagined, this announcement was of great interest to Tom and

Grant.

 

“What did he want keys for?” inquired Tom.

 

“He said he couldn’t open his trunk. He thought one of those I lent him

might do.”

 

Tom and Grant exchanged glances. They understood very well what it was

that Benton wanted to unlock.

 

“Did he think he would raise the money to buy the restaurant?” inquired

Tom.

 

“Yes, he said he was negotiating for a loan.”

 

Meanwhile Benton had observed Tom Cooper and Grant walking together. He

had the keys in his pocket, and was anxious to test the question whether

one of them would fit.

 

“Why shouldn’t I try this evening?” he asked himself. “It is a fine

night, and Grant and Cooper will probably stay out some time. If I could

only get the gold-dust and settle the matter about the restaurant

to-morrow! Hardy won’t keep it for me very long. He is likely to meet a

man with money any time.”

 

Benton kept on his way, and, seizing his opportunity, stole upstairs

quietly and, as he thought, unobserved. But Mrs. Crambo saw him and

suspected his purpose. When two minutes later Tom and Grant entered the

house, she remarked: “Mr. Benton has just gone upstairs.”

 

“I expected he would. He has borrowed some keys in the village.”

 

Tom removed his shoes, and went upstairs softly. He saw at once that the

door of his chamber was open. He approached quietly, and looked through

the crack. There was Benton on his knees before the chest, trying one

key after another.

 

At length he succeeded. The last key fitted the lock, and he raised the

lid eagerly.

 

“Now for it!” he muttered in a tone of exultation.

 

When the lid of the chest was opened, a pile of shirts and underclothing

was revealed. It is hardly necessary to say that Benton did not care for

these. He was in search of something more valuable.

 

Eagerly he took out the clothing and piled it on the floor beside the

chest. Then he looked anxiously for a box containing gold-dust, for it

had occurred to him as probable that the two friends would keep their

gold in a tin box. But to his deep disappointment no box was visible,

nor any other receptacle for the coveted dust.