I followed him, but as I sat down and glanced about the room I saw something that fairly jerked me to my feet.

A section of the shelving had been swung forward, and behind it the door of the safe stood open.

In an instant, I had flung myself on my knees before it, groped for the locked drawer, pulled it out, and hurried with it to the table.

The five packets of money were gone.

“What is it, Lester?” asked Godfrey, at my side.

“There was—­fifty thousand dollars—­in money in—­this drawer,” I answered, trying to speak coherently.

Godfrey took the drawer from my hands and examined its contents.

“Well, it isn’t there now,” he said, and replaced the drawer in the safe.  “Sit down, Lester,” and he pressed me back into my chair and flung himself into another.  “I wish I knew where Vaughan kept his whiskey!” he murmured, and ran his fingers furiously through his hair.  “This is getting too strenuous, even for me!”

He fell silent for a moment, and sat looking at the open safe.

“What astonishes me,” he mused, “is the nerve of the man, stopping at such a moment to work that combination.  Think what that means, Lester; to work a combination, a man has to be cool and collected.”

“A man who could sit without stirring through that scene upstairs,” I said, “has nerve enough for anything.  Nothing Silva does can surprise me after that!”

“I wonder how he knew the combination?”

“I was sure he knew it.  I had to stop Miss Vaughan to keep her from telling it to me.”

“Well, he lessened his chance of escape by just that much.  Every minute he spent before that safe was a minute lost.  Ah, here’s Simmonds.  What do you think of that, Simmonds?” he added, and pointed to the safe.  “Senor Silva stopped on his way out to gather up fifty thousand dollars in cash to pay his travelling expenses.”

Simmonds walked over to the safe and looked at it.

“Fifty thousand?” he repeated.  “But Vaughan must have been a fool to keep that much money here.”

“Oh, I don’t know.  It’s a fireproof safe, and mighty well concealed.”

“I’ll tell you what I think,” I said; “I think he intended to give the money to Silva.  He was going to give him a million—­left him that in his will, you know.”

“So Silva was only taking what belonged to him, eh?” and Godfrey laughed.  “Well, I hope you’ll get him, Simmonds.”

It was at this moment that Dr. Hinman entered, a curious, repressed excitement in his face, and his eyes shining strangely.

“How is she, doctor?” Godfrey asked.

“She’ll be all right in the morning.  She is still pretty nervous, so I gave her a sleeping-draught and waited till it took effect.”

Godfrey looked at him more closely.

“Did she tell you anything?” he asked.

“Not much,” said Hinman; “I wouldn’t let her talk.  But she told me enough to let me guess one thing—­she’s the bravest girl I ever knew or heard of!”