The night watchman at the cyanide works had very important duties to perform. Jode Lenning, in spite of his youth, had been filling the position to the satisfaction of everybody at the mine. Burke’s announcement, therefore, came as a tremendous surprise.
“Went away?” repeated Mr. Bradlaugh. “Didn’t he tell you he was going?”
“Oh, certainly,” replied the superintendent, “he told me he was going, and that he would be back in plenty of time to go on duty at the tanks. Borrowed my saddle horse, too—the sorrel with the white stocking foot. Up to an hour ago, though, he hadn’t got back. Had to fill in his place last night with a man from the night shift in the mill.”
Colonel Hawtrey was taking this all in with significant glances, directed now at Frank and now at Mr. Bradlaugh. His face wore a grim “I-told-you-so” expression.
“What time did he leave the mine?” asked Mr. Bradlaugh.
“About nine in the morning.”
“Did he say anything about what he intended to do?”
“No. But he did remark, I remember, that he had quite a long ride to make; and, last evening when he failed to return, the man in charge of our powder house told me that Lenning had given him a dollar for some dynamite, a length of fuse, and a cap.”
This merely intensified the mystery.
“What the deuce do you suppose he wanted of that dynamite?” muttered Mr. Bradlaugh.
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“Lenning’s schemes go pretty deep sometimes,” frowned the colonel. “He’ll not come back, Burke. I don’t believe he intended to come back, when he left the mine. I’ll ride over in a day or two and give you a check for your horse and riding gear. I don’t consider that I’m in any way responsible for your missing property, understand, but Lenning is a relative of mine, and I don’t want any of my friends to suffer financial loss through him.”
“I believe he’ll come back,” said Burke. “All my opinions about that boy have changed since he’s been working at the mine. I think he’s trying to be square, and to clear his record.”
“I’d give fifty thousand dollars this minute,” declared the colonel, “if I could know that what you say is a fact. But,” he added, “actions speak louder than words. Before many hours have passed we’ll hear what Lenning has been up to. Maybe he just got tired of a life of honest endeavor and made a sudden break to get away from it. I was afraid that, sooner or later, the life out there would get too monotonous for him.”
“We’re going to give him the benefit of the doubt,” said Mr. Bradlaugh. “He was going to take a long ride, and may have met with an accident, or have been delayed in some other way. Just leave the mill hand on the work for a day or two, Burke, and we’ll wait for Lenning to show up, or to send us word.”
“Thought I’d better report the thing to you, Mr. Bradlaugh,” Burke remarked. “If any other hand had turned up missing, I’d not have bothered you with the matter, but I realize that Lenning is a sort of protégé of Merriwell’s, and I wanted to let him know what had happened.”
“I think the affair will come out all right, Merriwell,”
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 said Mr. Bradlaugh to Frank, “and that there’s no need to do any worrying.”
“Whether it comes out all right or whether it doesn’t, Brad,” spoke up the colonel, “we’ve got a little business together on the links. Go ahead and get started.”
Mr. Bradlaugh turned to make his drive.
“Lenning had a reason for not getting back as he said he’d do,” Frank asserted confidently. “When he shows up at the mine, he’ll explain the delay in a manner that will be satisfactory to everybody. I’m just as sure of that as I am that I’m alive this minute.”
The youngster’s loyalty to Lenning won a nod of approval from Mr. Bradlaugh. While the latter was swinging at the ball, Frank, Clancy, and Burke turned and started for the trail in front of the clubhouse. The superintendent rode slowly at the side of the two boys.
“What in the world do you suppose Lenning wanted that dynamite for?” Burke asked.
“Search me!” Frank answered, vastly puzzled.
“While you’re asking conundrums,” chimed in Clancy, “what did he want to take a ride for—and a long one, at that?”
“Yesterday was Sunday.” Burke reminded Clancy, “and the mill is shut down. Most of the men pull out for a ride or a walk.”
“But Lenning has to be on duty every night, hasn’t he? If he was going to take a ride that lasted all day, when would he get his share of sleep?”
“Probably he could do without that for one day. You see, he——”
Burke bit off his words abruptly. His eyes were fixed on the trail that led from the main road to Gold Hill to the clubhouse.
“Who’s that over there?” he asked, with a hint of a
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 laugh in his voice. “The man, whoever he is, seems to be having a little trouble.”
Against the clear, bright sky a man on a mule stood out in clean-cut prominence. The man was tall and angular, while the mule was long and equally angular. The mule was at a standstill, his long ears laid back, and the rider was pounding his bony sides desperately in an attempt to get him to move.
“Holy smoke!” chuckled Clancy; “why, that’s Professor Phineas Borrodaile, our tutor, and he’s trying to make Pophagan’s mule, Uncle Sam, carry him on to the clubhouse.”
“Uncle Sam appears to be an obstinate brute,” laughed Burke.
“He’s wo............