CHAPTER XXII. In Helena--A Fruitless Quest--Jerry Taylor's Bagnio--Reliable Tidings--A Midnight Ride--Arrival at Butte City 293 CHAPTER XXIII. The Long Trail Ended--Duncan Traced to his Lair--Caught at last The Escaping Burglar a prisoner 306 CHAPTER XXIV. The Burglar Returns to Chicago--Revelations by the Way The Missing Five Thousand Dollars 319 CHAPTER XXV. The Mystery of the Missing Five Thousand Dollars Solved at Last The Money Recovered--Duncan at Geneva 328 CHAPTER XXVI. Conclusion--Retribution 337 THE BURGLAR'S FATE AND THE DETECTIVES. CHAPTER I. Geneva--The Robbery--Search for the Burglars--My Agency Notified. Geneva is one of the prettiest and most thriving little towns in the west. Situated, as it is, in the midst of one of the finest agricultural districts in the country, its growth has been rapid beyond expectation, while its social progress has been almost phenomenal. Stretching for miles in all directions, over a country beautifully interspersed with gentle elevations and depressions, lie the well-cultivated farms of the honest tillers of the soil. The farm-houses, which nestle down beneath the tall trees, present an appearance of comfort and beauty rarely witnessed, while the commodious and substantial out-buildings evince the thorough neatness of systematic husbandry. Standing upon a high knoll, and gazing over the scene upon a bright sunny morning, the eye lights upon a panorama of rustic splendor that delights the vision and entrances the senses. The vast fields, with their varied crops, give indications of a sure financial return which the gathered harvests unfailingly justify, and the rural population of Geneva are, in the main, a community of honest, independent people, who have cheerfully toiled for the honest competence they so fully enjoy. Nor is the town dependent alone upon the farmer and the herdsman for its success in a financial sense. Nature has been bounteous in her gifts to this locality, and in addition to the fertile and fruitful soil, there is found imbedded under the surface, great mines of coal, of excellent quality, and seemingly inexhaustible in quantity. This enterprise alone affords employment to hundreds of men and boys, who, with their begrimed faces and brawny arms, toil day and night in the bowels of the earth for the "black diamonds," which impart warmth and light to countless happy homes, and materially add to the wealth of the miners. Numerous manufacturing industries also find a home here. Large buildings, out of whose huge chimneys the black smoke is pouring forth in dense volumes, and whose busy wheels and roaring furnace fires, mingled with the sound of scores of ringing hammers, make merry music throughout the day.