When Sam came back he found Dick sitting on a rock with his cut plastered up from the out kit taken along to the football match. Frank had likewise been attended to.
“I am so glad you are not hurt seriously,” said Mrs. Stanhope, as she sat down beside Dick, with Dora close at hand. “All of you have had a very narrow escape.”
“It is a shame that no danger signal was display,” said Dora. “When they are fixing a bridge they usually put a bar across the road with the sign: ‘Danger! Road Closed,’ on it.”
“Exactly,” put in Peleg. “But I haint seen no sign, an’ that I can swear to.”
“In that case Contractor Darwell will be responsible for this smash up,” said John Laning. “Are the horses hurt?”
“They are pretty well scratched up around the legs.”
“Humph! And the two front wheels of the stage are a total wreck. I reckon it will take the best part of fifty dollars to fix matters up.”
“Anyway, I don’t calculate as how I’m responsible,” grumbled the general utility man, fearing he saw trouble ahead, when Captain Putnam should hear of the affair.
A creaking on the road was heard, and presently a lumber wagon hove into sight, piled high with the new planking for the bridge. On the front sat Darwell the contractor and two of his workmen.
“Hullo, what does all this mean?” cried the contractor, as he brought his wagon to a standstill, and viewed the wrecked stage.
“It means that Captain Putnam will have a little account to settle with you, Mr. Darwell,” put in Harry Blossom promptly.
“With me? What for?”
“For this wreck.”
“And for this cut chin,” added Frank.
“And my being knocked out,” said Dick.
“I’m not responsible for any wreck,” replied Joel Darwell. “I put up the bar with the danger signal on it, up at the cross-roads.”
“We didn’t see no sign,” interrupted Peleg Snuggers. “Not a bit of a sign.”
“There was no sign when I came along,” said John Laning.
“I put the sign up not over three hours ago,” insisted Joel Darwell. “I can show you just where Sandy Long and I dug the post holes for it.”
“Then some rascal took the sign down,” said Tom. “What for?”
“Must have done it to wreck the stage,” answered Larry Colby. “But could anybody be so cold-blooded?”
“Yes, there are several people who would do that,” answered Dick promptly. “But I don’t think they are within a hundred miles of Cedarville just now.”
“You mean Dan Baxter for one,” said Sam.
“And Josiah Crabtree for another,” put in Tom. “They are both down on everybody around here.”
“How about Mumps?” asked Larry.
“Oh, he reformed after that chase on the ocean, and I’ve heard he is now out West,” said Sam. “There’s another rascal, though—Mr. Arnold Baxter. But he is in jail in Albany—he and that tool of his, Buddy Girk.”
“Well, certainly somebody is responsible,” said Frank. “Supposing we go back and try to find some clew?”
“And find the danger sign and put it up again,” said Joel Darwell.
A dozen of the boys went back, and with them Tom and Sam, leaving Dick with the Stanhopes. As soon as the crowd had left, Dora Stanhope motioned the elder Rover to one side.
“Oh, Dick, it makes me shiver to hear Josiah Crabtree spoken of,” she said in a whisper.
“Why, Dora, you don’t mean to say that he has turned up again?” he questioned quickly.
“No—but—but—last night I heard a strange noise on our side porch, as if somebody was trying the side window. I went to the door and asked to know who was there. At once I heard somebody or some animal leave the porch and climb over the side fence of the garden. I am almost certain it was some person trying to get into the house.”
“Did you tell your mother?”
“No, she had one of her nervous headaches, and I thought it would do no good. But I couldn’t sleep all night, and I laid with a big stick in one hand and papa’s old revolver in the other. The revolver wasn’t loaded, but I thought I might scare somebody with it.”
“The revolver ought to be loaded, Dora. Do you know what caliber it is?”
“No; you know I know little or nothing about firearms.”
“Then I’ll find out for you, and get some cartridges. If Josiah Crabtree is around you ought to shoot him on the spot.”
“Oh, I couldn’t do that—even though I do know how dreadfully he treated you while you were in the heart of Africa.”
“You must be very careful of your movements, especially after dark. Crabtree may be around, with some new scheme against you or your mother. I wish he could have been left behind in Africa.”
“Oh, so do I! but he and Dan Baxter both came back to America, didn’t they?”
“So we heard in Boma. But don’t get worked up too much, Dora, for it might have been only a cat,—or a common tramp looking for something to eat. We have had lots of tramps around the Hall lately.”
“I have asked Grace Laning to pay us a visit, and she is coming over to-morrow.”
“Then you will have somebody in the house besides your mother and yourself. I wish I could stay with you folks.”
“How long are you going to remain at the Hall, Dick? When you came back you said something about going out West with your father to look up that mining claim in Colorado.”
“We shan’t start for the West until next spring. Father was going right away at first, but after he found out that Arnold Baxter was safe in jail and couldn’t bother him any more, he concluded to remain with Uncle Randolph and Aunt Martha until next spring so as to give himself the chance to get back his old-time strength. His sufferings in Africa pulled him down a good bit.”
“I suppose. Well, I am glad you will be around during the winter. Next summer mamma has promised to go with me on a trip to Buffalo and then around the Great Lakes. I trust the lake air will do her much good, and that we won’t hear or see anything of Mr. Crabtree while we are on the water.”
“I’d like to go with you on that trip,” answered Dick. “I have no doubt you will have a grand time.”
Little did he dream of all the perils that trip was to lead to, and of how he and his brothers would be mixed up in them.
In the meantime the others had journeyed up the hill to where the road branched off in three directions. At this point Joel Darwell pointed out two newly-made holes in the earth, about fifteen feet apart.
“See them?” he cried. “Well, that is where I placed the danger sign, and I am willing to swear to it.”
“And so am I,” added the workman who was along.
“Well, there is no danger signal here now,” returned Tom, glancing around. Some bushes torn up beside the road attracted his attention, and he hurried toward them. “Here you are!”
He pointed to a cleared spot behind the bushes and there, on the ground, lay the torn-up posts and boards. Evidently somebody had dragged them thither in great haste.
“It’s the work of some thorough rascal!” cried Sam. “Somebody who meant mischief to our stage.”
“Maype dis vos der vork of dem Pornell Academy fellers,” suggested Hans.
“No, they are gentlemen, not scoundrels,” replied Tom. “They may feel cut up, but they wouldn’t play such a dastardly trick as this.”
The spot was one commanding a good view of the back road, so that anybody standing there could have seen the stage coming while it was still a quarter of a mile off.
All hands began a search for some clew leading to the identity of the evil-doers—that is, all but Joel Darwell and his helper. These two dragged the posts and boards into position again, and this time set them down so firmly that a removal would be out of the question witho
ut tools.
“Hullo, here’s something!” cried one of the cadets presently. “Did you just drop this, Tom?”
As he spoke he held up a round, flat coin of coppery metal, engraved with several circles and a rude head.
“No, I didn’t drop it,” replied Tom, his face growing serious. “Did you, Sam?”
Sam gave a look, placed his hand in his pocket and brought out a similar piece. “No, there is mine,” he said. “Where in the world did that come from?”
Then Tom and Sam looked at each other. The same idea crossed the mind of each. The coin was similar to those they had handled while on their way through Africa. They had brought home several as pocket-pieces.
“I’ll wager Dan Baxter dropped that!” cried Tom. “He, or—”
“Josiah Crabtree!” finished Sam. “Yes, I am sure of it, for Dick brought none to Putnam Hall; I heard him tell the Captain so, when they were talking about coins one day.”
“Then in that case, either Baxter or Crabtree is responsible for this smash-up!” came from one of the other cadets.
“Right you are. The question is, which one?”
“Perhaps both vos guilty,” suggested the German student.
“That may be true, Hans,” came from Tom. “I wonder if one or the other of the rascals is in hiding around here?”
“We’ll begin a search,” said Sam. “Hans, go and call the others,” and at once the German cadet started off on his errand.
CHAPTER IV
A TRAIL IS FOUND AND LOST
By this time several carriages had come up, also a number of folks on bicycles and on foot, and to all of these the situation had to be explained. Among the last to put in an appearance was Captain Putnam, and he was at once all attention, and desired to know how seriously Dick and Frank were injured.
“It was an outrageous piece of work,” he said.
“Still, to be fair, we must admit that the broken brake is largely responsible for what happened, after the start down hill was made.”
“But I couldn’t help the brake breaking,” pleaded the general utility man. “I did my best, and was thrown out—”
“I am not finding fault with you, Snugger,” cut in the captain, shortly. “Let it pass, and leave the stage to be taken care of by the Cedarville blacksmith. But I wish we might lay hands on the rascal who is responsible for the start of the mishap.”
“They have found a coin such as we used when as we were in Africa,” said Dick. “I think that furnishes a clew.”
“In what way, Rover?”
“Those coins were also used by Dan Baxter and Josiah Crabtree.”
“And you think one or the other, or both, are in this neighborhood again?”
“It looks plausible, doesn’t it?”
“Yes, but—it would be very strange. I should think they would give this locality a wide berth.”
“Hardly. Josiah Crabtree isn’t done with the Stanhopes, to my mind, and Baxter will get square with us if he can.”
While this talk was going on Sam and Tom were following some footprints leading from the clearing where the signal board had been found down a small path toward the lake. The footprints were clearly defined.
“The prints are not very large,” observed Tom, as he and his brother measured them. “It looks to me as if Dan Baxter’s feet might have made them.”
“Certainly they weren’t made by old Crabtree,” said Sam. “He had a very long foot and always wore square-toed boots.”
They followed the prints down to the lake shore, and then along the rim of the lake for nearly half a mile.
Here there was a little cove, and under some bushes they discovered some marks in the wet dirt of the bank, as if a rowboat had been moored there. In this dirt the footprints came to an end.
“That’s the wind-up of this trail,” sighed Tom. “Water leaves no trail.”
“That’s so. But supposing we skirt the lake some more.”
They went on, and did not give up until the declining sun told them the day was done.
When they reached the Hall they found that all of the others had come in, and that preparations were already going forward for the feast in the evening. For once Captain Putnam and George Strong, his main assistant, were going to allow the cadets to have their own way. Secretly the captain was tremendously pleased over the showing his pupils had made on the football field, for this happened to be a year when college athletics were in the ascendancy in all of the States.
But the regular evening drill must not be neglected, and soon the sound of the drum was heard, calling the members of companies A and B to the parade ground. A rush was made for uniforms, swords, and guns, and soon the boys come pouring forth, Dick as a captain, and his two brothers as under officers.
“Attention!” shouted the major of the command. “Forward! march!”
“Boom! boom! boom, boom, boom!” went the drums, and then the fifers struck up a lively tune, and around the academy marched the two companies at company front. Then they went around again by column of fours, and then marched into the messroom, where they stacked arms and sat down at the long mess tables. The movements were patterned after those at West Point, and could not have been improved upon.
“Well, what of the hunt,” asked Dick, as soon as he got the chance to talk to Tom.
“We followed it to the lake and then lost the trail,” answered his brother. “But I am convinced that the rascal was Dan Baxter.”
“I believe you are right, Tom,” answered Dick, and related what Dora Stanhope had told him. Of course Tom listened with keen interest.
“We made a mistake in letting old Crabtree and Baxter go when we had them in Africa. We should have handed them over to the authorities.”
“I am not worried about Baxter so much,” went on Dick. “But I hate to think of Crabtree being around to molest the Stanhopes.”
“And especially Dora,” grinned Tom.
“Right you are, Tom, and I am not ashamed to admit it to you. But please don’t—don’t well, make fun of it to me any more.”
“I won’t, Dick.” Tom gave his brother’s hand a squeeze under the table. “Dora is all right, and if some day I get her for a sister-in-law I won’t complain a bit.” This plain talk made Dick’s face flush, but he felt tremendously pleased, nevertheless, and loved Tom more than ever.
Directly after supper the boys were given until eleven o’clock to do as they pleased. At once some old barrels were piled high at one end of the campus, smeared with tar, stuffed with wood, and set on fire, and the blaze, mounting to the sky, lit up the neighborhood to the lake on one side and the mountains on the other.
Four cadets had gone down to Cedarville to buy the fireworks and the things to eat, and by nine o’clock these returned, loaded down with their purchases. Among the crowd was Larry Colby, who sought out Dick as soon as he arrived.
“I’ve got news,” he exclaimed. “Whom do you suppose I saw down in Cedarville? Josiah Crabtree!”
“You are certain, Larry?”
“Yes.”
“Where did you meet him?”
“Down at the restaurant where he went for some ice cream. He was just paying for a lunch he had had when I came in.”
“Did you speak to him?”
“No; I wanted to do so, but as soon as he saw our crowd coming in he dusted out of a side door.”
“Was he alone?”
“Yes.”
“Humph!” Dick’s brow clouded. He was inclined to think that Dora had been right concerning the noise she had heard on the side porch.
“You haven’t any idea where he went?”
“No; I wanted to follow him, but it was dark on the street and he slipped me.”
This was all Larry had to tell, and he hurried to arrange the fireworks.
The celebrati
on was a grand success, and lasted until almost midnight. The boys had brought along a lot of Roman candles and skyrockets, and these they set off from the top of one of the tallest trees on the grounds.
“So that the Pornell fellows can see them,” said Sam. “I know they will enjoy the show,” and then he closed one eye suggestively. The Pornell players had chaffed him on account of his size, and now that the victory was won, he did not mean to let them forget their defeat too quickly.
At about ten o’clock Dick went to Captain Putnam and asked permission to leave the grounds for an hour or two.
“Where do you wish to go?” asked the captain.
“To Mrs. Stanhope’s, sir,” and he related what Dora had told him, and of what news Larry Colby had brought.
“I am afraid you may get into trouble, Rover,” said the captain seriously.
“I will be very careful, sir. I am not afraid of Mr. Crabtree, should he turn up.”
“I don’t believe you are afraid of anyone,” said the master with a smile, for he admired Dick’s courage.
“Then you will let me go?”
“Wouldn’t you rather have somebody with you?”
“I wouldn’t mind having Tom along.”
“I meant some grown person—like, for instance, Mr. Strong.”
“No, sir.”
“Well, then, take Tom. But mind and be careful, and don’t stay too late if everything is right, down there.”
Having received this permission, Dick hurried to Tom. Soon the two brothers were on the way, Tom eating some cake and peanuts as they hurried along. The latter hated to miss the feast, but did not wish to see his brother under take the mission alone.
It was a clear night, and although there was no moon, the stars twinkled overhead like so many diamonds. Both knew the short cut to Mrs. Stanhope’s cottage well, and made rapid progress. “Shall you ring the bell if everything appears to be right?” asked Tom, as they came in sight of the modest dwelling, set in the widow’s well-kept garden.
“I guess not, Tom. It’s so late. Both Mrs. Stanhope and Dora have probably gone to bed.”
They had almost reached the gate to the garden when Dick caught his brother by the sleeve and drew him back into the shadow of a large maple tree.
The Rover Boys Megapack Page 47