Holding it so it could not be seen from the house, Bob Eden read it through.
“Well, dad says he’s going to put up the bluff to Madden that’s he’s sending Draycott with the pearls tonight.”
“Draycott?” asked Holley.
“He’s a private detective dad uses in San Francisco. As good a name as any, I suppose. When Draycott fails to arrive, dad’s going to be very much upset.” The boy considered for a moment. “I guess it’s about the best he can do—but I hate all this deception. And I certainly don’t like the job of keeping Madden cool. However, something may happen before then.”
They examined the ground where Bob Eden had halted the car while he opened the gate the night before. The tracks of many cars passing in the road were evident—but no sign of any footsteps. “Even my footprints are gone,” remarked Eden. “Do you suppose it was the wind, drifting the sand—”
Holley shrugged. “No,” he said. “It was not. Somebody has been out here with a broom, my boy, and obliterated every trace of footsteps about that car.”
Eden nodded. “You’re right. Somebody—but who? Our old friend Thorn, of course.”
They stepped aside as an automobile swung by them and entered Madden’s yard.
“There’s Bliss, now, with the constable,” Holley remarked. “Well, they get no help from us, eh?”
“Not a bit,” replied Eden. “Encourage them off the ranch at earliest possible moment. That’s Charlie’s suggestion.”
They returned to the yard and waited. Inside the living-
