His voice died in a gasping rattle, his breast heaved once and was still, his eyes were set, and the end had come.
Zolverein, the magician, had solved the great mystery.
It was Frank who carried the report of the magician's death to Thaddeus Burnham.
"Why couldn't the fellow have waited till to-morrow!" he exclaimed. "Got the best house of the year. People will be terribly disappointed. It's so much cold cash out of my pocket."
"Death is something that cannot be postponed," said Frank. "When a man's time comes, he has to go."
"Now I must go in there and announce that there will be no performance," growled Burnham. "If there was somebody to take Zolverein's place----"
Burnham stared. Then he grinned in a sickly manner.
"What sort of a joke are you cracking?" he asked, harshly.
"No joke," assured Frank. "I am in earnest. I'd like to take his place."
"Still, I have studied magic, and I am a good ventriloquist. For instance----"
"Bow-wow-wow!" barked a dog in the box office, and the ticket seller gave a great jump and scrambled onto his stool, drawing up his feet and looking down for the dog.
A cat seemed to utter a wild yowl, following which the dog barked again, and then a terrible clamor of sounds came from the ticket office, as if the dog and cat were engaged in a fearful combat.
"Well, how in blazes did they ever get in there?" gasped Thad Burnham, making a rush for the side door and flinging it open. "Get out of here, you----"
"You tell!" burst from the ticket seller. "Thought they were right here under my feet."
Frank was standing behind Burnham, looking in at the door and laughing.
"Why don't you drive them out?" he asked.
"Why, they're not in here," answered the manager.
A cry came from the ticket seller--a cry of consternation and terror.
"Somebody must have reached in and taken them while we were looking for the cat and dog. I've been robbed!"
"Nobody reached in," declared Burnham, at once. "No person has been near the window, Jones."
"But the money was there a few moments ago--I saw it just before the dog barked."
"Then it must be right here now. Perhaps you brushed the bills off onto the floor."
They looked on the floor, but the pile of bills was not found there.
"You must have put them in your pocket, Jones," said Burnham, sternly.