 From Hollywood it's time now for Johnny Duller Jake Kessler returning your call Johnny. I just got back here to my office. You've been at the hospital Yes, it looks like hard luck Dennis may pull through as he's been able to talk He's the key to the whole case Jake so phone me here as soon as he can be talked to Meantime I'm gonna try to snag me some of these Lake Mojave bass Tonight and every week day night Bob Bailey in the transcribed adventures of the man with the action-packed America's fabulous freelance insurance investigator is truly Johnny dollar From special investigator Johnny dollar location Catherine wash on the Colorado River To the greater Southwest insurance and liability company Kingman Arizona office Following as a report of expenses incurred during my investigation of the Midas touch matter Item eight six dollars twenty cents gas for the rental car that I drove down here to the Lake Mojave resort in the Colorado River Just above Davis Dam And what a place modern comfortable cabin within spinning distance of the lake itself good restaurant tackle shop doc In fact everything to make a fisherman happy to help him fight it out with a lunker bass that inhabit the 60 mile long lake But much as I wanted to fish I had other things to do first I wanted a good look at the Midas touch mine on the advice of the manager ham Pratt I took along Buster favor general fact totem of the resort. I like Buster immediately short stocky cheerful And with keen eyes that took in everything that went on about it Little side road to the left Johnny, okay So old hard luck Dennis got shot up. Yeah, apparently because he knew too much You see when that cave in occurred at the Midas touch and kill the Haskell brothers Hey, you better go into second gear on this road. Okay, right? Why hard luck was the only person known to have been there with them Couple that with a fact. He just got sixty thousand bucks from them to reopen the mine But mine's worthless Johnny. Yeah, so I understand Anyhow naturally enough everybody decided hard luck had done it in all before the brothers could get wise to him Funny old character pretty nervous when I saw him He almost took a shot at me a couple of times when he didn't like something I said instead. He got it. Yeah While he was just prospecting he was alright Managed to get enough out of the ground here and there to live on some left over for a Saturday night being down in You see the workings up ahead right But when he couldn't seem to make a big strike like every prospect it tries for that's when he tried finding suckers for some of his Fancy promotions up. Yeah, but he really wasn't very good at it. It threw him out of the Texas oil country, you know Yeah, so I heard So that's the Midas touch not too many of this kind of mine anymore with the entrance going into the hillside this way You know, I better use this flashlight. Okay Hey, tell me something Buster If this mine is worthless How could hard luck get the Haskell brothers to chip off chunks of ore that ass ate over a thousand dollars a ton? Well, I got kind of a theory about that. Let's see if I'm right So covered up with dust down here not haven't been worked for years It ought to be easy to see where they knocked off chips for a sample to take back Well, what are you doing down here? Holy smoke, that's a rattling. Yeah Guess you decide to get in out of the hot sun out there. Well, here. I'll find a big rock or something. No, no, you sweet Handle to this old pick here I can get him to strike at it. Maybe I can grab him by the tail and Watch it and crack him like a whip So help me Buster sometimes you do it right you can snap their heads right off Got to be careful though not to snap that head against your own cell brother, yeah, I See what you mean No chance of somebody having planted that snake down here is there mean like the scorpion in the monument Huh, you know those little neat piles of rock you see here there in the desert two three feet high I thought those were where some prospector at stake to claim Markers, yeah, they are monuments. They call them In the old days they always did the same way. How is that? Pull a couple of stones away. You'd find no old Prince Albert tobacco tin. He opened the tin You'd find two things in it piece of paper describing and marking off the claim and Scorpion alive as he stayed alive That meant stay away. No trespassing. This is mine I'll be darned Look here here Johnny on this pillar that was The pillar that was left by digging around it to hold up the ceiling. Oh See where someone was knocked off with a pick. Yeah Hey, wait a minute Buster that looks like yellow Looks like gold. That's what it is. Then this mine is rich. No Johnny You mean the only gold or left down here is in these pillars. That's right And without on the roof at cave in well, couldn't it couldn't be short of with wood why? Only two three four of these left down there probably not more than a ton and all not worth it. Oh Yeah, I see But worth using it to bring in the suckers. Yeah Well, now you want to see how the cave in on the Now what in the Sam Hill is this doing down here this winch and length of wire rope Isn't that the answer to the cave in tad hiding over at headquarters and Kingman seem to think so Sure, somebody used to pull down one of the pillars But Johnny a winch of this type hadn't got any place in the mine Where would a rig like this be used? Well, every ranch in this whole area probably has a couple cattle ranch. Yeah, that's right Hmm, that gives me an idea About who did it at least it gives me a lead to an idea Or at least the kind of questions to ask hard luck Dennis. I thought you said he was still unconscious. Yeah Yeah, so I have to wait Well, let's get out of here What do you plan to do now? Oh, just wait, I guess and do some fishing while I wait Oh, now that's right down by alley only first I'm gonna knock off a bit of this or for a souvenir. Yeah, this all picked on a deal Well, I'll take it easy John. I should take it easy Now Johnny you shouldn't know them better than that. Yeah, let me help you out of this pile of rubble My face was pretty red as we drove back to Lake Mojave only once did Buster mention the full thing I'd done Yes, sir, if you'd banged away at one of the pillars further in the shaft We'd have been in real trouble probably ended up like the Haskell brothers and I suppose instead of planning on going fishing I should have been cooking up some new angle of attack on this case But after all I had been promised fishing time on this trip and until hard luck Dennis could recover enough to talk I got the boat already and waiting for us Johnny with the 30 horse Johnson outboard on it Oh boy, I can't wait and I'll take you to spots I know where you can pull out the biggest fight in this past you ever saw Oh, bless you son of a gun. You're tempting me with something. I can't resist. I'll even load you my bottle of fast strike fast Right. Yeah, lure oil a little dab of that on your fatal guarantee you fish. That's for me You You sure you wouldn't rather just sit and try to figure out some new lead on this insurance case You want my answer here? But as luck would have it Ham Pratt was standing down by the dock waiting for us with a message for me Call Kingman operator number three seven. I made the call Well, if it wasn't for the message from you I'd be out on Lake Mojave right now So if that's all you want to know, yeah, he has yes Has he told you anything about who shot him up? Your is only friend. Okay, Jake. I'm on my way In a half hour flat. I was back in Kingman at the Mercy Hospital on the edge of town. Hello hard luck That's right Glad you came Only one I trust Not like people around town. They hate me. Wow knew he'd try to get me Probably seen me going back to the mine knew I'd recognize that Winch he left there the winch that was used to pull down the mine pillar caused the cave in that's right a lot of winches like that and the ranches but only Alex Only he used that particular make Royal stand Alex fool hard. Look Bundy Alex Bundy Foreman at the Haskell's ranch the too lazy to yes But why in love Kevin Haskell's wife Dora Okay, okay Would you tell the police the court all this when the time comes if you say so? If I leave oh, he'll live all right the doctor says you're gonna be fine You're gonna be okay now. Is there anything you want anything I can have sent up here to make you more comfortable. No, thanks, Johnny Just come and see me. We sure Thanks, I Guess sure the only real friend I have Just why he felt that way. I don't know perhaps it was because he needed a friend I Decided I'd better let Jake Kessler in on what I'd learned and incidentally ask him for directions to the two lazy To so I drove on over to his little second floor office on East Palm Drive Alex Bundy, huh? Yeah, that's what hard luck says and with his testimony to back me up when I find Alex Well, we'll have a case a good case Which means by the way that your company won't have to pay off an additional million and a half for double What's the matter? Yeah, Jake I'm going on over and do a bit of fishing in Lake Mojave Buster favor promises to get me a limit of the finest Somebody was outside that door listening to us. I'm sure of it Yeah, look, there he is going down the street Recognize him Jake where it's too late. He got around the corner, but if it's who I think it is Yeah, he must have heard all that was said in here. Alex Bundy, huh? What's your guess? I've been thinking Johnny Yeah, old hard luck Dennis been the key to this whole case right from the first. He still is more than ever after what he told Me, all right then Excuse me Jake Kessler speaking. Oh, hello chief. I was just What what's the matter Jake? What's the matter you look like you've seen a ghost I was tad harding at headquarters The fire escape outside the room at the hospital, huh? Somebody come up the fire escape Used a bailing hook. He's dead now hard luck Now is our start to tell you about tomorrow's intriguing episode of this week's story tomorrow the case is closed and Then it suddenly reopens with a bang from a thirty-odd six rifle join us. Won't you yours truly? Johnny dollar first truly Johnny dollar starring Bob Bailey is transcribed in Hollywood It is produced and directed by Jack Johnstone who also wrote this week's story Be sure to join us tomorrow night same time and station for the next exciting episode of yours truly Johnny dollar Roy Rowan speaking