The Nine-Mile Hold-Up 



to with incredulity at first, but when the Post Commander 

 had investigated it, he also was nonplussed. The 

 country was watched for miles around, and notices were 

 posted and rewards offered, but no one ever claimed the 

 rewards. It was pronounced to be the cleverest and 

 slickest job ever put up on the Government, and that 

 was all that was said about it. 



The Lieutenant means to dig some day to find out if 

 they really were sitting on a mine. 



CHAPTER 4. 



Two modishly dressed and much-tanned gentlemen 

 were watching Santos-Dumont make his attempt to sail 

 his airship around the Eiffel Tower in Paris. They 

 showed even more than the usual interest, and when he 

 had finally accomplished the wonderful performance, 

 the shorter of the two said: 



" If we could have steered ours like that, we wouldn't 

 have landed in old Mexico, eh, Mat ?" 



" That's right, too, old man," said the taller, " but he 

 only gets twenty thousand dollars for his voyage, and 

 don't get that until he lands. We took ours with us." 



Both laughed and turned towards their hotel and 

 dinner. 



At the table they were extremely quiet. There was 

 a far-away look in the eyes of the smaller of the two men, 

 as he furtively studied his vis-d-vis. Finally he broke 

 out with: 



" It strikes me as mighty queer, Mat, that you had the 

 nerve to tackle our country out there after being brought 

 up to this sort of thing, and on top of it all to concoct 

 the best ' divide up ' scheme I ever heard of. What 

 started you off?" 



" Well, Butch, I've got a pretty clear conscience. 



199 



