Show of silence by fi ancis lynde i mutilation aby 0 irwin myers WN service beivide by william gerard Chap ramy SYNOPSIS owa wen landis landas young ydun inventor ii has as developed an extraordinary sl al lencer which Is from ft a safe bate in ills laboratory landals tella 11 wally markham his chum the 0 only af person beside himself knowing lae combination of the oaf aate Is betty lawson with whom the inventor is la in love A plaster cast cadt of a worn wom ans footprint nt found beneath the window of t the he laboratory fits one of bettys shoes betty tells markham herbert canby posing as a promoter had driven her home the he previous night and that she had dozed in the car the tha safe in the bank at Pert Fert hdale Is blown open and looted the noise of the explosion absing unheard satisfied that his black box is in the bands of crooks landis bandla with markham Mai kham goes to Pert Perth hdale dalo three strangers claim claiming n to be business men of loussi louisville ig ile are ara the only possible suspects markham and landis do de acids to follow them at st joseph markham learns canby is driving west W with ith betty lawson and her father r as guests in the car markham car is stolen and wrecked he buys uy another and they go on at colah op h t they ll 11 meet e t betty who explains lalta t the li e reason 0 n for her and her fathers journey A conversation between canby and the three louisville men convinces markham and land landals a they are on the right track the commissary of the cinnabar mine is robbed and two men killed again there was no sound at brewster they learn ot of the arrival of canby and his party william starbuck mine owner tells them of canaya crookedness they meet C canby n b lie he tells tella them he t la in the west ve j 0 on n business conne connected c td with his mine thel the old Quava pal pai betty and her father are with him as guests landis and markham are assaulted on the street by knife wielders wl elders but beat off 00 their assailants CHAPTER IX continued 1 11 if you are out on the topaz road stop at the little alice im going out there shortly the invitation was accepted conditioned upon their driving that far As they were taking the roadster out of the hotel garage landis asked what was to be the program tor for the day 1 I want to take a shot at trying to find out what canby did with those two unaccounted for hours yesterday morning 11 the shot was fired methodically by making inquiries on all the roads leading out of brewster and it led to nothing until the round brought them to the road over which they the themselves M had bad driven in here at a cottage markham stopped the car saying there wits was a light in this house when we came by yesterday morning I 1 noticed it its only another of the wild chances but well ask A woman answered their knock and markham began the well worn formula pardon me but well be grateful if you would answer a few questions tor for us it if you can you were up early yesterday morning you the woman nodded 1 I was all of that my baby was sick do you often notice the passing of cars 1 I very well help it could 1 I living that close to the road like this then pointing to the roadster 1 I saw that car or one just like it go by it a little after day yest yesterday erda morning quite right and we were la in it was it the only one you saw no there were three more big cars all just alike two going into town and one coming out I 1 was sitting by the window landis saw ft a possibility in this and caught at it could youcan you can you remember the I 1 times when these three cars just aae alike went past he asked inot not just but I 1 mhd say it was somewhere near three when the tha first one went by going on to town could you see this big car well enough to tell us how bow it looked it was a fine closed car painted a kind of light yellow a limmy they call lem em dont they markham nodded 1 I suppose yon nt see the people in it could you only that there was two of leni em in th the front efroni seat a hii man and ii a woman exactly now the next one when did it come along mayhem mai he a half pour hour pr or so BO after that it was going the other way it looked like the same car Anyway any It was the same color and the third one which way was it going it was going in and it was a big yellow car too just like the others I 1 saw aw it good i could you see the folks in it 1 I could see only the one man driving an extraordinarily good witness that woman markham commented comment od when they drove on adding that was a happy thought of yours oleu timing those these three cars where does it land you 1 I think you know the three cars cara just alike were one and the same game car and the man driving drivins it all three times was waa canby checkl check 1 the next question Is why did he double back after lie he had left the professor and betty at the hotel walt wait said landis and after a trow brow knitting pause im trying to re coming over lost last night you repeated tor for me the talk you overheard between canby and the three in the colah garage you say something about candys meeting the others as agreed got cot its ile ha did ray just hat why the shown up in brewster left it somewhere along the road and canby picked them up and brought them in were framing the puzzle up a bit at a time 1 I hello hero here we are at the little alice shall we stop have to wont we wet it if mr starbuck sees us hell think it queer if we drive past without stopping markham parked the car and as aa he wa was 9 doing it starbuck came out you are just in the nick of time to have a noon snack with us was the mine owners greeting come on over to the mess shack and meet the staff this was their introduction to the engineers and officer mens mess anu and after the meal starbuck took them in in hand and showed them through the mine after they had tramped for what seemed like miles in the network starbuck halted them in a well lighted heading where the chattering clamor of the air drills was deafening and the silence when the drills stopped and the miners began to unlimber and drag them back from the heading was almost painful this Is our main lead starbuck explained when the stoppage of the drill clamor gave him leave its what the old miners call a true fissure vein and they have a belief that such veins grow richer the deeper you drive then they are aiming to load the holes and fire and wed better move out As they were walking down the main tunnel landis said you spoke of the old time miners do they have many superstitions oh not more than men of other callings I 1 reckon but in that heading weve just left weve had a curious case of miners nerves the men began to say they could hear the ticking of a death watch when the drills stopped we pay any attention ff talk fast and talk straight if you want to go on to it at first but after a while when the men in that heading began to take time off on one excuse or another we investigated the ticking could be heard at times but it was probably only the trickling of water in some underground cavity or so we concluded As they came cam e out of the mine markham asked the location of the qua capal starbuck pointed up the road toward lake topaz its on the other side of the spur in the next gulch if you are going that way see the dump as you pass the mouth of the gulch they saw it hanging like a huge gray beard from the mountain side but a turn in the gulch hid bid the mine buildings the side road was barri cadee against traffic and beyond the barricade they saw a man with a gun what do you make of that laa dis asked no visitors need apply I 1 wonder what canby has bas up his sleeve in there time may tell what do we do now go on hunting for the F leet markham made ft a sign of assent id like to know where those three men left it and why also why canby went out opt to meet them they stopped at the hotel to glance over the register in search of the three names markham had copied from the record in st joseph the names did not appear and as aa they were driving out of 0 the hotel grounds they met canby driving in not in the yellow limousine but in a sport roadster theother the other occupant of the single seat was betty lawson canby seemed i not notto to see them the m but betty did and rhe fhe waved to them you r see ree ee said landis gloomily 1 I see that you are taking it lying down markham Mar khani returned in a half growl you think I 1 break in it if I 1 had an opening that I 1 dont care enough good lord wally id give the best ten years of my life it if I 1 could go hack ack to where I 1 stood with betty before I 1 began to bury myself in this cursed invention of nit mine nell I 1 he choked up at that and when he went wen t on show me an opening wally and ill walk into it it if h I 1 la Is gaping on the other side of it 1 bow much im taking tt it lying doehl urn um that sounds more like it was markhams Mar Mark khama hams gruff approval and he drove on before they ther had gone tar far landle landis looking back taw saw a small email car following a car abo tb was apparently hat bay ing trouble making the grades since however slowly they drove jt it never overtook them after a time landis spoke of the struggling flivver that lizzle lizzie seems to be making hard work of it he said when on OD one of the reverse they could see it across the intervening gulch it was waa stopped and two nien men were apparently paret patently itly ly doing something to the motor Mar markham icham gave the halted car only a passing glance this to Is the gulch where we saw the ore fira night before last he pointed out suppose we climb down there and have a look they got out and scotched scorched scot ched the wheels with stones the descent into the gulch was down a precipitous slope before they had and gone very far they came upon what appeared to be a rough trail with crushed find and broken bushes to mark its course been happening here landis asked more afore rock rolling looks like it well find out when W we 0 get to the bottom at the bottom of the gulch they found themselves in a boulder strewn stream bed and turning to the left they struggled upward toward the place where they bail ba seen the fire it was in a dry stream bed that they came suddenly upon the thing they were searching for the remains of the fire wedged in the bottom of the gulch the wreck of a large car crushed into a shapeless heap of junk and with everything burnable blackened and destroyed now we know what made the scarred trail said markham Markh nm that car ran off the road and came down here and burned up Is it the before landis could reply there came a vicious spat on the face of the rock beside which they were standing followed by the crack of a rifle the they ducked behind the boulder and at that there was another report and the clang of a bullet upon the iron work of the wrecked car what the T markham choked grabbing for his pistol but lanz landals was cooler easy he counseled its those fellows up at the flivver dont waste your your ammunition the automatic wont carry half that far ID D nl gritted gritter markham were penned up here like rats in a trap I 1 no trouble about getting out of it with all these rocks to dodge around worming their way cautiously among the boulders they were soon out of range from the road above though the unseen rifleman kept on firing but the bullets went wild after they reached a hollow that was out of sight from the marksmann marks mans position markham looked apprehensively at the bare slope they would have to climb to reach their car well have to go farther he ha panted we cant scramble up there in plain sight 1 I dont mean to said landis then la in a sudden of passion ive hai had about enough of this d d am bushing business you there Is good cover on this other side of the gulch well climb out that way and see it if we cant do a little of the am bushing ourselves I 1 As he had pointed out there was fo resting enough on the western slope of the gulch to afford fairly well con coaled stalking cover and as they tolled up through the undergrowth markham was striving to flog his estimate of his boyhood chum and college mate around to the new point of view he had always thought of landis as a dreamer a thinker a student as anything but a fighting man but here w was As an entirely new development the dreamer pale of face to be sure but with his jaw and the light of battle in hla his gray eyes was storming up the steep ascent at a pace that made his bis heavier follower pant and blow thus it came about that landis was the first to step out of a thick growth of little spruces spruced at the level of the tha road markham burst out of the cover a moment later and what he saw was wa s a further proof that ft a lifelong friendship may not reveal the whole man even to his closest intimate the small dusty rattletrap car was standing as they had seen it from the opposite side of the gulen gulch beside it were two men with their hands above their heads in deference to landis covering pistol and at their feet lay the rifle with which one of them had bad been firing into the gulch before markham could get his breath lan dis als was grilling the pair snappily what did you fellows mean by firing at us when we were down there talk fast and talk straight if you want to go on living I 1 G g great scott I 1 stuttered the taller of the two are ye deanin to s say lilt hit was you all down yonder in the gully you know d d well it was I 1 your game who sent you here to kill us off talk quick I 1 fore fora ga bawd wd mister you got us all wrong I 1 we aint alluan to kill nobody I 1 abort you was a liar bar so help me I 1 did dudl I 1 they told us down along that we might meet up with a blar bar comin through these mountains and when we looked down yonder we shore you all auz one we jeff appealing to his hl mate good gravy 1 you dont reckon wed shoot at a man knowin it auz a man do ye at this point markham toom took it a nand hand where are you fellows from lit h demanded were from Tenn tennessee esmee been tz tc utah heeln it if hit auz a fettin country for white folks hit aint and were alii almlof to gin a back where we come from fram did you stop in stop only ieng enough a buy us ca some come grub TO nis |