GOLD OF THE GODS. Arthur B. Reeve
otherwise.
"You are acquainted, I suppose, with a Senora de Moche?" ventured Kennedy again, taking a chance shot.
Whitney looked at him keenly. "Yes," he agreed, "I have had some dealings with her. She was an acquaintance of old Mendoza's--a woman of the world, clever, shrewd. I think she has but one ambition--her son. You have met her?"
"Not the Senora," admitted Craig, "but her son is a student at the University."
"Oh, yes, to be sure," said Whitney. "A fine fellow--but not of the type of Lockwood."
Why he should have coupled the names was not clear for the moment. But he had risen, and was moving deliberately up and down the office, his thumbs in his waistcoat pockets, as though he were thinking of something very perplexing.
"If I were younger," he remarked finally, of a sudden, "I would give both of them a race for that girl. She is the greatest treasure that has ever come out of the country. Ah, well--as it is, I would not place my money on young de Moche!"
Kennedy had risen to go.
"I trust you will be able to unearth some clue regarding that dagger," said Whitney, as we moved toward the door. "It seems to have worried Norton considerably, especially since you told him that Mendoza was undoubtedly murdered with it."
Evidently Norton kept in close touch with his patron, but Kennedy did not appear to be surprised at it.
"I am doing my best," he returned. "I suppose I may count on your help as the case develops?"
"Absolutely," replied Whitney, accompanying us out into the hall to the elevator. "I shall back Norton in anything he wants to keep the Peruvian collection intact and protected."
Our questions were as yet unanswered. Not only had we no inkling as to the whereabouts of the dagger, but the source of the four warnings that had been sent us was still as much shrouded in mystery.
Kennedy beckoned to a passing taxicab.
"The Prince Edward Albert," he directed briefly.
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