ho went batty and lost two hundred thousand
dollars?" asked Tommy, sliding down from the slate pyramid and standing
beside Sandy.

"That is believed to be the man!" laughed Sandy.

"Believed to be!" roared Carson.

"Does he know where he left the money?" asked Tommy.

"Sure I know where I left my money, you young jackanapes!" declared
Carson. "I pointed out the exact hiding place only a few moments ago!"

"You found it empty?"

"Yes, I found it empty," roared Carson.

"Then," Tommy suggested, "we've all got to get busy."

"What do you mean by that?" demanded Carson.

Before Tommy could reply, Will came sliding down the rope and landed
within a few feet of where the little group stood.

"Look here, Will," Tommy said, "are you sure we made a good search of
those three ginks? They've got the money all right!"

"How do you know they did?" demanded Will.

"That fat man over there who looks as if he was about to bust," Tommy
grinned, "is Mr. Carson, the man who hid the money and couldn't find it
again. He's just been looking in the place where he concealed it, and it
isn't there! We've got to get busy!"

"I don't understand this at all," Mr. Buck interrupted.

"It's just this way," Will said, facing the speaker "we caught the three
men who were wandering about in the mine. We rescued our chums first,
and then when the outlaws heard your party advancing they scrambled up
the old shaft and took to their heels, supposing, of course, that we had
lost no time in getting out of the mine."

"And you geezled them all?" asked Sandy.

"The whole three!" replied Will. "All we had to do was to stretch a rope
across a passage, trip them up, and do a little winding around their
great big forms before they could get their breath. They're all tied up
good and tight now."

"And you searched them for the money and didn't find it?" shouted
Carson.

"And we searched them for the money and didn't find it!" repeated Will.

"I don't believe it!" shouted Carson. "You'll be telling me in a moment,
when I ask you to produce your robbers, that they have broken their
bonds and escaped!"

At that moment, George's voice was heard calling down the shaft:

"Break for the main shaft!" they heard him saying. "Head those fellows
off! They cut their ropes and got away!"

"I told you so!" thundered Carson.

CHAPTER XXII

CONCLUSION

"Bright boys up there!" exclaimed Will, as the unwelcome news of the
escape of the robbers