CHAPTER XXVI A TALK OF IMPORTANCE
"I say, you on the rocks! Come down here and let us talk to you!" shoutedJerry Koswell.
"Who are you. What do you want?" asked a voice that was strange to theRovers.
"We want to know what you are doing on this island?" demanded anotherperson, Alfred Darkingham.
"What business is it of yours?"
"What business?" shouted Darkingham, wrathfully. "A good deal of mybusiness. This island belongs to my uncle and you have no right here."
"Oh, is that so!" exclaimed the stranger. "I didn't know that this islandbelonged to anybody in particular."
"Well, it does. Who are you anyway?"
"Oh, my name is of no account, since we are not acquainted," answered thestranger. "If this is your island, I suppose the only thing for me to dois to get off of it."
"What are you doing here?"
"Why--er--only looking around," stammered the stranger.
"Are you alone?"
"Can't you see that I am?"
"How did you get here?" asked Larkspur, who had come up. "We didn't seeyou land."
"Oh, I came in a--er--in a motor boat, run by a friend of mine.He--er--he said he would call for me later," stammered the stranger.
The Rover boys listened to this conversation with interest, and graduallydrew closer, as the stranger came from the rocks to talk to Darkinghamand the others.
"Say, are you the fellow who abducted a lady!" cried Larkspur.
At this direct question the stranger started. "Why--er--what makes youask--er--that question?" he stammered.
"We know some fellows who are looking for a lady who was abducted--atleast, that is the story they told," answered Koswell.
"Where did you see those fellows?" asked the stranger, and now he wasplainly excited.
"They were here awhile ago."
"Here--on this island?"
"At the dock--but they didn't land--we didn't let 'em," said Larkspur.
"Humph!" The stranger was thoughtful for a moment. "No, I don't knowanything about a lady who was abducted," he said slowly. "I am justroaming around a bit. As soon as my friend comes back with the motor boatI'll leave the island. If I had known it was private property I shouldn'thave come ashore at all."
"Oh, I don't mind a fellow roaming around a little," said AlfredDarkingham, loftily. "But we came here to camp out, and of course weprefer to have the island to ourselves."
"I see. Well--er--I shan't disturb you. I--er--left my fishing outfit onthe opposite shore. I'll go and get it, and then I'll be ready to leaveas soon as my friend comes for me."
"Oh, you needn't be in such a tremendous hurry, Mr.----"
"Smith--plain John Smith," filled in the stranger. "I'm stopping atPeak's Island."
"My name is Alfred Darkingham. These are my friends, Jerry Koswell andBart Larkspur."
"Koswell!" cried the stranger, in considerable surprise. "Did you sayJerry Koswell."
"Yes."
"Did you--were you a student at Brill College?" asked the man who hadgiven his name as John Smith.
"Why, yes," was the reply. "But I don't remember you."
"No, for you never met me. But I have heard of you, and I think I haveheard of your friend, Mr. Larkspur. Didn't you once have some troublewith some fellow students named Rover?"
"Yes," answered Larkspur, and his brow darkened.
"Pretty bad trouble, too, wasn't it?"
"Bad enough," growled Koswell. "Are you a friend to the Rovers?" headded, suspiciously.
"Oh, no, I don't know them. But I heard of the trouble."
"It was the Rovers' fault," said Jerry Koswell, sourly. "They put it offon us, but they were to blame. We might have gone back to Brill, but wedidn't think it was worth while; did we, Bart?"
"No, we had enough of the grind as it was," answered Larkspur, glibly.
"Great Scott! just listen to that!" whispered Tom to his brothers. Theywere behind some nearby bushes and could catch every word that wasspoken.
"Hush! or they may hear you," was the warning, from Dick.
"Didn't you once get a letter or two from a party named Tad Sobber?" wenton the fellow who called himself John Smith.
"I did!" cried Jerry Koswell. "Then you know Sobber?"
"Supposing I told you that I did?" And the strange man eyed Koswellnarrowly.
"Sobber wanted me to help him get square on the Rovers," went on JerryKoswell.
"But you didn't want to help him, is that it?"
"Yes, I did want to help him. I sent him a long letter to that effect,but he never answered it."
"A letter that you would help Sobber?"
"Sure. The Rovers treated me dirt mean, and I'd go out of my way a gooddeal to get square."
"So would I!" cried Larkspur.
"I don't believe Sobber ever got your letter," went on the stranger. "Hetold me he had waited to hear from you but you hadn't answered."
"Then the letter got lost," answered Jerry Koswell. "I am sorry if itdid, for I wanted to fix the Rovers."
"And so did I," echoed Larkspur.
"Well, maybe you can fix them yet," went on the fellow who had calledhimself John Smith. "You say you are going to camp out here?"
"Yes."
"Then I may see you again in the near future. I am going to Peak's Islandand then to Portland, and I may see Tad Sobber, and if I do, I'll tellhim what you've said."
"Do it!" cried Koswell promptly. "And tell him I am willing to help himall I can against the Rovers."
"And tell him that Bart Larkspur will help him, too," supplemented thatindividual.
"All right," answered the stranger. "Of course you know it might bea--er--a little risky, getting the best of those Rovers."
"Oh, we'll take a little risk," answered Koswell. "But, say!" he almostshouted. "I begin to smell a mouse!"
"Eh?"
"It was the Rovers who were here--looking for that lady who wasabducted!"
"Well?"
"Did you and Sobber bring her here? Is she here now?" went on Koswell,quickly.
"If--er--if Sobber was here, would you like to meet him?"
"Sure I would. And the lady who was abducted----"
"I can't tell you anything about her. But--well, I might as well admitit--Tad Sobber is on this island with me. He--er--he came on rather apeculiar errand and he didn't want anybody to know it. But I ratherthink, as you are going to camp out here, he would like to meet you andtalk to you."
"Where is he?"
"Up the shore a distance. If you'll wait for me here I'll hunt him up andbring him to you."
"Bring him down to our camp yonder," put in Alfred Darkingham. "We aregoing down there to get something to eat."
"All right, I'll bring him to your camp just as soon as I can locate him.We'll be there in less than an hour. So long!" And with a wave of hishand, the stranger turned and hurried across the rocks and into thebushes.
"I think I know that man!" whispered Sam, excitedly. "His name is Pally,Jim Pally. He was one of the freight thieves who was in league with SidMerrick and Tad Sobber. He got away when the gang was rounded up," headded, referring to a happening, the particulars of which were related in"The Rover Boys on the Farm."
"And now he is aiding Sobber again," said Tom. "Maybe he is the fellowwho helped in carrying Mrs. Stanhope off."
"I think he is the rascal who got the fortune at the lumber companyoffice," whispered Dick. "His appearance tallies with the descriptionMrs. Stanhope left. Come on, let us follow him. I think he will lead usdirectly to where Sobber and Crabtree are, and Mrs. Sobber and Mrs.Stanhope, too."
And Dick led the way with the others at his heels.
The Rover Boys Down East; or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune Page 28