The Golden Quest

CHAPTER XIV. THE ALLIANCE

“HARRY!”

Rex Brodford’s voice. Harry Vincent stirred. Dizzily, he rubbed his forehead and opened his eyes. He was resting upon a cot, propped up by Rex’s arm. His friend was trying to give him a drink of water from a cup.

Harry stared. He was in the little shack, blinking at the glare of the electric lantern. Rex was not the only other occupant. Leaning over the foot of the cot was Old Absalom, the bearded hermit.

Harry tried to rise at sight of this foe. Rex stopped him. Old Absalom chuckled. Rex joined with a laugh.

“This chap’s all right, Harry,” he informed. “What’s more, he’s an old friend of yours. He’s—”

“A friend of mine?” queried Harry, staring at the hermit. “I never saw him before—”

“No?” queried Old Absalom. “Think again, Vincent. Try to picture me without the whiskers.”

Harry recognized the man’s firm tone. For the first time, he realized who the hermit really was.

“Vic Marquette!” exclaimed Harry. “Of the Secret Service. Say, Vic” — Harry leaned forward to thrust out his hand — “why didn’t you tell me who you were?”

“How could I?” demanded Vic. “You landed on me like a tiger! I didn’t even get a look at your face! I was trying to explain, though, but you choked the words out of me.”

“So you had to slug me, finally.”

“Sure! You were covering me with an automatic. I was nearly out on my feet. It’s lucky you were half groggy, too, or you would have drilled me.”

Harry smiled. He realized that Vic had not seen The Shadow’s interference. He realized also that The Shadow had recognized the Secret Service operative. The Shadow, taking the swiftest way to save Vic from Harry’s gun, had pitched into his own agent.

The Shadow’s actions were explained. Harry realized that his chief had left him in good hands. That settled, the present matter was to learn what Vic Marquette was doing in the guise of a bearded recluse.

Harry and Vic had met several times before. Frequently they had cooperated, Harry working for The Shadow while Vic represented the law. The present situation, however, was more bizarre than any in which Harry had previously encountered Vic Marquette.

“How do you figure in this, Vic?” inquired Harry. “We thought you were the old hermit who has been around here for years.”

“Every one else thinks the same,” chuckled Vic. “I’ve bluffed them perfectly. There really is an old duck whom they call Old Absalom; and he did live on that island in the lake. But I was the first person to make a deal with him.”

“How long ago?”

“A few months back. My chief sent me up here to investigate this Chalice mine outfit. There’s something phony about that layout. I don’t mean just the stock selling. I refer to the payments of corporation taxes. They’ve been misrepresented.”

“And your job was to find out how.”

“That’s it. And by whom. So I came to Lake Chalice and sleuthed around. I spotted Old Absalom out in the lake and I went to see him. He wasn’t so tough as he was supposed to be.

“I made a deal with him. I lived there on the island and grew my own crop of whiskers. When I looked like the hermit’s twin, I talked him into shaving off his beard. You’d never have known who he was.

“I paid him to take a trip to Wisconsin to see some relatives he hadn’t met for years. He was glad to quit the hermit racket, after someone had talked him into going back to civilization.” Vic paused. This time it was Harry who laughed. The story was a rare one.

“I bummed around the lumber camp occasionally,” resumed Vic. “Then I concentrated on the Chalice mine. But I wasn’t getting anywhere with the hermit business. All I had was a swell disguise. No results.

“Last night, however, I had unexpected visitors. Two men who looked like scoundrels. They brought me a hundred bucks in silver and wanted to make a deal. So I listened. They said they’d heard that I was a tough hombre and they wanted me to act in my accustomed style.

“They told me two men were camping up on this property. They said those two persons would come to see me shortly. They wanted me to commit double murder. The cash was advance payment.

“I took the dough and played dumb. Tonight, though, I figured I’d come up here and find these chaps that I was supposed to massacre. I knew the ones who had visited me were crooks. I wanted to beat their game; to give a warning here.”

This time it was Rex who chuckled as Vic paused. Rex was picturing Vic’s arrival in the cabin.

“Marquette didn’t know we’d listened in,” said Rex. “He came in here friendly enough. I took a swing at him with the spade, figuring his friendliness was a bluff. Luckily, I missed him.”

“You put me in a tough spot,” acknowledged Marquette. “I knew there were two of you around here. After the fight you put up, I had to tie you so I could look up your pal.”

“And then I came in,” interposed Harry.

“Yes,” returned Vic, “and I was in for another battle. I didn’t know who you were until you sprawled out on the floor. I put you here on the cot. By that time, Brodford was trying to get loose, so I talked to him. Then I cut the rope and the two of us decided it was time to wake you up.”

Harry was sitting up. He motioned to Rex.

“Have you told Marquette why we’re here?” asked The Shadow’s agent.

“I just started to,” replied Rex.

“Go ahead, then,” ordered Harry.

REX went into his story. He told of his holdings in the Quest Gold Mine; of the episode in New York; of his meeting with Harry Vincent and the arrival at Cortland Laspar’s lodge on Lake Chalice.

Then he mentioned that James Jubal and Firth were the two rogues who had come to Old Absalom’s isle.

He added that others had been with them.

“I thought so,” remarked Vic, when Rex had finished. “Well, that only puts more phony biz on the records of the Chalice mine. One thing, though: this new crew must be working independent of Luke Trebold’s skeleton squad that is posted at the Chalice shaft.

“It looks as though Jubal is working a game on his own. With Firth helping him. The tie-up is a puzzler. He has evidently decided that it is more important to balk your search for the Quest mine than it is to go on with his bum stock selling.”

“We’ve found the Quest mine shaft,” remarked Rex.

“You have?” exclaimed Vic. “That’s great! It fits right in with my purpose here. I came to warn you for one thing; for another, I wanted to get the dope on these rogues who came to bribe me on the island.

“You’ve told me who Jubal and Firth are. Now the job is to learn just why they have tried to block you fellows. We can do that tonight. By a visit into the old mine shaft. Is it far from here?”

“Just up the slope,” stated Harry.

“Good,” asserted Vic. “We’ll go there and investigate it. After that, I’ll slide back to my cabin and keep on playing the part of Old Absalom.”

“Waiting for Jubal and Firth to show up again?”

“Sure. They’re counting on me to annihilate you fellows. They’ll be around to find out why I haven’t. When they learn that neither of you have been to the island to see me, they’ll hatch some scheme of their own.

“Immediately after their next visit, I’ll head over here. Then there will be three of us on guard, to get them. But that won’t come for a few days yet. Maybe it won’t come at all, now that you’ve found the shaft you’re after. Our job right now is to take a look up on the slope.”

Harry and Rex were in agreement. With Vic, they bundled up items of equipment: picks, spade and rope.

Using the electric lantern, they marched from the shack.

The expedition was on again. With three in the party, instead of two, Harry and Rex had found an important ally.

Vic Marquette would unquestionably prove a welcome aid in the exploration of the mine shaft.

SOLID night blanketed the hillside as the trio advanced toward the slope. The electric lantern, however, made it an easy matter to find the path that Harry and Rex had previously taken. Their trail followed a natural contour from the shack.

Harry swung the lantern to find the birch tree. That marker was no longer the only indication of the buried shaft. The work that Harry and Rex had performed was more tangible evidence than the solitary tree.

The unveiled entrance to the old mine formed a blackened hole capped with loose stones and chunks of timber. Rex spoke in elation, when he observed the added clearing that Harry had accomplished.

Reaching the shaft, Harry uncoiled the rope and looped its center over the end of an imbedded log. He instructed Rex to hold the lantern while he made a descent.

Using both portions of the rope, Harry went down into the shaft. He called up for the others to follow.

Vic Marquette lowered himself, bringing a flashlight. They had come fifteen feet straight downward; but a return would not be difficult. Although the shaft was vertical, it was lined with rough rock that offered an easy mode of ascent.

Vic’s blinking torch showed this. Harry called up to Rex, who came down with the lantern. While his companions held the lights, Harry tugged at one end of the rope and brought the whole coil down into the shaft.

“We’ll need the rope later on,” he explained. “Maybe we’ll find some bad spots in the shaft. It will be easy enough to get out when we come back. We can climb those rough walls without difficulty.”

The trio headed down a sloping tunnel. They could see that the passage led a long way. That fact offered them cause for elation. As they progressed, the passage turned slightly. They saw the reason.

Rocky walls were glistening. Splotches of yellowish luster gave indication that this visit would bring results. This ground contained gold. The old Quest mine had been driven into a vein of the precious metal.

“Keep on,” suggested Rex, breathlessly. “It’s getting better as we go deeper.”

They reached a spot where the shaft leveled off. Advancing, they discovered a passage veering toward the left, downward. It was bearing from the vein, for the glitter that remained was on the right wall of the main tunnel.

The three kept on ahead. They saw spots where men had chopped at walls. This was the real heart of the mine, the portion that would bring wealth, if new excavations were made in the proper direction.

“They kept straight ahead,” observed Harry, pointing out the path. “That took them wrong. See — the passage ends.”

“No ore here,” remarked Rex. “Look at this; there’s an opening — a lot of loose rock.”

They had reached the end of the passage; what Rex had said was correct. But Harry, probing the hole with a flashlight, brought back the word that only base rock lay in view below.

“They must have given it up at this point,” declared Harry. “Come on back to where they were chiseling at the wall. There’s where we’ll find the real ore.”

THEY returned to the spot that Harry had indicated. Rex set to work with his pick. Chunks of rock came free as he attacked. Glistening strata showed anew. Rex ceased his effort.

“It’s a sure bet,” he decided, “that the vein moves off in this direction. The gold is here, Harry. All we’ll have to do is start this mine in operation.”

“I wonder why they quit operations?” questioned Harry. “They were striking metal when they stopped.”

“They were out of funds,” explained Rex, “and mining was a tougher job then than now. This rock will pay, I believe, but it took better ore to make operations worthwhile in the old days.”

“But your uncle was foxy enough to order the shaft closed,” put in Vic Marquette. “He knew he had something here. From what I know about present gold conditions, I’d say you’ve walked into a bonanza!”

“Take the other pick, Harry,” suggested Rex. “Let’s drive some more chunks from this wall. Just to see how good it looks. Then we’ll pick specimens of rock and take them over to the lodge.”

“And watch Cortland Laspar’s eyes pop open,” laughed Harry. “This will be a surprise, all right, for him. That’s it, Vic. Hold the lantern so we can both chop.”

With Vic Marquette retaining the light, Harry and Rex set to work upon the wall. Their picks chimed in steady clangs as they battered at the rocky side of the old mine shaft.

Danger and trouble were forgotten. Enemies were out of mind. Success had been gained. Harry and Vic were as elated as was Rex Brodford. None of the three gave thought to the menaces that they had discussed in the old shack on the hill.