“It--it was in the laboratory,” answered Jacobs, “and--and it isn’t there now.” “By the powers! Bernritter, what do you think of this?” McGowan whirled on the super. “Why didn’t you take care of that bullion, Jacobs?” demanded Bernritter. “I did take care of it. I had just turned the bar out of the mold when you sent for me. I cooled it off and put it in the safe. When I went back to the laboratory, just now, the safe was open and the bar had disappeared.” “It must have been some of the greasers who are filling the tanks,” hazarded McGowan. “It couldn’t have been,” protested Jacobs. “The foreman told me, not more than a minute ago, that not one of them had left the work. They were all under his eyes.” “It may have been the foreman himself,” suggested Bernritter. “What!” scoffed McGowan; “Andy O’Connell? Not on your life! I’d stake all I’ve got on Andy, Jacobs,” and McGowan’s eyes glittered as he wheeled on the cyanid expert, “it’s up to you to explain this.” “Do you think for a minute,” cried Jacobs, “that I’d----” “I said it is up to you to explain. What I think hasn’t anything to do with it. Did you turn off the combination of the safe when you left the laboratory?” “I--I think not,” was the hesitating response. “Fact is, McGowan,” put in Bernritter, “I sent for Jacobs in a hurry. I was figuring out the returns of the cyanid-plant, and I needed the weight and fineness of that bar to complete my figures.” “That’s no excuse,” stormed McGowan. “Jacobs should have turned the knob on that bar before ever he left the office.” “By George!” Bernritter gave a jump, as though an idea had just flickered through his brain. “Well?” demanded McGowan. “That Dutchman! He had hitched his horse down by the laboratory, and he was up at the kitchen with Frieda when Jacobs came here. While Jacobs and I were talking, he went down to the laboratory and rode away. Perhaps----” “That Dutchman seemed honest enough to me,” demurred McGowan. “He has been hanging out here for several days, but we began to miss gold long before he came.” “At the mill, yes,” said Bernritter, “but this is the first bullion that has gotten away from the cyanid-plant.” “Well, I don’t believe that Dutchman had anything to do with it.” “His horse was hitched by the laboratory,” persisted Bernritter. “It would have been possible for him to go into the office and take advantage of Jacobs’ absence to lift the bar.” “He was snooping around the laboratory all day yesterday,” spoke up Jacobs. “Getting the lay of things, I’ll bet something handsome,” averred Bernritter. “Did he ask you anything about the cyanid clean-up, Jacobs?” “Come to think of it,” answered Jacobs, “I believe he did.” “I thought he was too much interested in Frieda to pay attention to any one, or anything, else around this camp,” remarked McGowan.