The Burglars Fate and The Detectives | Page 2

Proves Fatal--A Night Ride to
Helena--Dangers by the Wayside 280
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.
On certain days in the week Geneva presents a cheerful and animated
appearance. On every hand are heard the sounds of honest toil and the
hum of busy trade. Farmers from the surrounding country come in
numbers into the village to purchase their necessary supplies and to
listen to the news and gossip of the day, and the numerous stores
transact a thriving business and reap a handsome profit on their wares.
The old mill, weather-beaten and white with the accumulating flour
dust of ages, and with the cobwebs hanging thick and heavy from its
dingy rafters, stands near by, and this too is an object of interest to the
sturdy farmers of the surrounding country. From morn till night its
wheels go round, transmuting the grain into the various articles of
consumption for man and beast, and bringing a goodly share of "honest
toll" into the coffers of the unimpeachable old miller. The mill is a
great place of meeting for the farmers, and the yard in its front is daily
filled with teams from the country, whose owners congregate in groups
and converse upon topics of general interest, or disperse themselves,
while waiting for their "grist," about the town to transact the various
matters of business which had brought them hither.
In common with all progressive American towns, Geneva boasts of its
school-house, a large brick building, where rosy-cheeked children daily
gather to receive the knowledge which is to fit them more thoroughly
for the great battle of life, when the years shall have passed and they
become men and women.
Here, too, are banking institutions and warehouses, and every element
that contributes to the thrift and advancement of a happy, honest,
hard-working and prosperous people.
Of its history, but few words are necessary for its relation. Not many
years ago it was the home of the red man, whose council fires gleamed
through the darkness of the night, and who roamed, free as the air, over
the trackless prairie, with no thought of the intruding footsteps of the

pale-face, and with no premonition of the mighty changes which the
future was to bring forth.
Then came the hardy pioneers--those brave, self-reliant men and
women