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.”

263“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.”

264“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. 265If 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 266is 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.

“I was on a false scent!” he exclaimed bitterly. “Where in the world do they keep their gold?”

He was beginning to replace the clothing in the chest, when the door was opened and Tom Cooper and Grant entered. Benton sprang to his feet in confusion, and tried to push his way out of the room. But at a signal from T............