est, and so at once started for San Francisco.
Your uncle had given his address as the Golden Nugget House, a place I
afterward learned was frequented by old-time miners and prospectors.

"I made inquiries at the Nugget House for your uncle, and to my
astonishment learned that he had disappeared very mysteriously one
night, leaving no trace behind him."

"What!" cried Paul, springing to his feet, and Chet was too astonished
to speak.

"I do not wonder that you are astonished. Yes, he had disappeared,
leaving his valise and overcoat behind him.

"I thought the matter so queer that I was on the point of notifying the
police. But on calling at the post office for letters I received one
from him stating that he was sorry, but he had come back to the place in
question and found it not what he had anticipated, so he wouldn't bother
me any more."

"I don't believe he came back!" ejaculated Chet. "If he had he would
have stopped at the ranch."

"I agree with you."

"Have you that letter?" asked Paul, his voice trembling with excitement.

"I have."

"I would like to see it, please."

"Certainly." And Noel Urner brought forth a large flat pocketbook from
which he extracted the communication in question.

Paul took it to the light and examined it closely.

"This is a forgery! Uncle Barnaby never wrote it."

"Let me see, Paul," ejaculated Chet.

He also examined the letter with as much care as his brother had
displayed. There was not the slightest doubt of it. The letter was not
genuine.

"It's certainly a bad state of affairs," said Noel Urner. "It makes the
disappearance of your uncle look decidedly bad."

"It looks like foul play!" cried Paul. "Why should Uncle Barnaby leave
the hotel in that fashion if all was perfectly straight?"

"It's like as not some mining town rascals got hold of his secret and
then put him out of the way, so that they might profit by it," said
Chet. "There are plenty of fellows mean enough for that."

"At first I was satisfied by the receipt of the letter," continued Noel
Urner. "But the more I thought over the matter the more I became
convinced that something was wrong; but in a different way from what you
think. I imagined your uncle had found other speculators to go in with
him and they had persuaded him to cut me off. That is why I started off,
after settling my other business in California, to find your uncle and
learn the truth. I was willing to lose a few weeks' time out her