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Page 64
"Nothing," answered Tom, making a careful examination so as to
be sure. "It's as empty as a last year's bird nest. He's been
robbed--that's what has happened to Mr. Nestor. He was waylaid
that night, instead of being run down as I thought--waylaid and
robbed and then his body was brought here."
"There you go again, Tom! Jumping to conclusions!" said
Jackson, with a friendly smile, and with the familiarity of an
old and valued helper. "Maybe he's in perfectly good health. Just
because you found his empty wallet doesn't argue that your friend
is in serious trouble. He may have dropped this on the road and
some one picked it up. I'll admit they may have taken whatever
was in it, but that doesn't prove anything. The thing for us to
do is to find out who knows about this shack; who owns it, on
whose land it is, and whether any one has been seen here lately."
"They've been here lately whether they've been seen or not,"
said Tom positively. "There are the auto tracks. It rained two
days ago, and the tracks were made since. Mr. Nestor must have
been here within two days."
"He may or may not," said Jackson. "Say, rather, that some one
was here and left his wallet after him. Now see if we can find
other clews!"
They looked about in the fast fading light, but at first could
discover nothing more than evidences that three or four persons
had been living in the shack and at some recent date--probably
within a day or two.
They had had their meals there and had slept there. But this
seemed to be all that could be established, other than that Mr.
Nestor's wallet was there, stripped of its contents.
Tom was looking through the closet, from which a frightened
chipmunk sprang as he opened the door. There were the remains of
some food, which accounted for the presence of the little striped
animal. And, as Tom poked about, his hand came in contact with
something wrapped in paper on an upper shelf. It was something
that clinked metallicly.
"What's that?" asked Jackson. "Knives, or some other weapons?"
"Neither," answered Tom. "It's a couple of files, and they've
been used lately. I can see something in the grooves yet and--"
Suddenly Tom ceased speaking and drew from his pocket a small
but powerful magnifying glass. Through this he looked at one of
the files, taking it out in front of the shack where the light
was better.
"I thought so!" he cried. "Look here, Jackson!"
"What is it?"
"Another clew!" answered Tom.
CHAPTER XXIII
THE GOVERNMENT TEST
For a moment Jackson thought Tom had discovered a clew to, or
evidences of, some crime. He had an unpleasant suspicion, for an
instant, that there was blood on the files, and that it might
prove to be the blood of Mr. Nestor.
But the satisfaction that showed on Tom's face did not seem to
indicate such dire possibilities as these.
"What is it?" asked Jackson, unable to guess at what Tom was
looking through the powerful glass. "What do you see?"
"Metal filings on the grooves of these files," said the young
inventor. "And, unless I'm greatly mistaken, the particles of
filings are from the case of my aircraft silencer!"
"What!" cried the machinist. "Do you mean those are the files
used in weakening the outer case of your new machine, so that it
burst a little while ago?"
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