“I can tell you I was much surprised to see Josiah Crabtree,” said Dan, after a pause. “I ask him how he happened to be out of prison, and he said he was let go because of his good behavior.”
“That would make me laugh,” interrupted Tom. “Think of old Crabtree on his good behavior!”
“He said he had been following me up for nearly a week,” pursued Dan, and then he paused and his face grew red.
“Following you up?” cried Sam. “What for?”
“Well—er—I might as well make a clean breast of it, fellows—although I hope you will keep it to yourselves. You’ll remember how thick Crabtree and I once were?”
“Yes,” answered all of the Rovers in a low tone. They could realize how painful the remembrance of it must be to Dan, now.
“Well, he had an idea that I was the same old Dan and ready for new schemes for making money. He had a scheme, and he wanted me to help him work it.”
“What was it?” asked Dick.
“Well, you’ll remember that he was always crazy after Mrs. Stanhope.”
“He was crazy after her money, and Dora’s money.”
“Exactly. Well, he wanted me to help him in a scheme against Mrs. Stanhope—the same old scheme he tried years ago. He wanted to get her in his power and force her to marry him.”
“What! Marry that jailbird!” cried Dick, and his eyes flashed fire. “What a father-in-law Josiah Crabtree would make!”
“That’s it, Dick. He talked around the bush a good deal at first, and I led him on, wanting to know what he had up his sleeve. He talked about his affinity and all that, and said that Mrs. Stanhope really wanted to marry him—that she had said so a score of times—”
“The scoundrel! He tried to hypnotize her!”
“I know all that as well as you do, Dick. Well, he said she wanted to marry him, but that her daughter wouldn’t let her, being influenced by you and the Lanings. He wanted me to aid him in getting Mrs. Stanhope away from Cedarville, and he said that as soon as they were married he would give me five thousand dollars for helping him to get her.”
“Dan!”
“It is true, every word of it. I pumped him all I could, just to get the details of his plot. But he wouldn’t give me the details—in fact, I don’t think he had the details worked out. When, at last, I flatly refused to assist him he went off the maddest man you ever saw. He warned me not to say a word to anybody, stating that if I did, he would put the police on my track on some old charge. But I made up my mind that I would write to you, and I’d write to Mr. Laning, too—he being Mrs. Stanhope’s near relative.”
“Where did he go to?” asked Sam.
“I didn’t see him the next day, until late in the evening. Then I was over to Grapeton, to see a jeweler there, and when I was coming away an automobile passed me driven by a fellow in a regular chauffeur’s costume. On the back seat was Crabtree and a fellow who used to go to Putnam Hall—the fellow who tried to do the Stanhopes out of that fortune in court, Tad Sobber.”
“Sobber and Crabtree!” burst out Dick. “They surely must be together in this deal!”
“It certainly looks like it,” added Tom.
“I guess Crabtree is bound to have a part of the fortune, even if he can’t marry Mrs. Stanhope,” said Sam.
“Is Sobber after that fortune again?” questioned the young commercial traveler.
“We are afraid he already has it in his possession,” answered Dick. “Now that you have been kind enough to tell your story, Dan, we’ll tell ours.” And he related the particulars of what had brought them away from the camp at the lake.
“I guess they are both after that fortune,” said Dan, after listening to the recital. “It seems to me it all fits in. Sobber wanted to get hold of that cash. He couldn’t do it by force, so he had to use cunning. He is not an overly-brilliant fellow, I take it, so he had to get somebody to aid him. In some manner he fell in with Josiah Crabtree. He knew that Crabtree was as smart as he was unprincipled. The two fixed up the plot to get the fortune—and got it.”
“I hope they haven’t got Mrs. Stanhope, too,” murmured Dick.
“I think Crabtree would rather have the money than have the lady,” said Dan.
“Well, we’ll know all about the case tomorrow,” said Sam. “I am dead tired now and am going to bed,” he added, looking at his watch.
“What time is it?”
“Quarter to twelve.”
“Gracious, Dan, I didn’t think we were keeping you up so late!” cried the eldest Rover boy.
“Oh, that’s all right, Dick. I’m glad you came—it saved me the trouble of sending that letter.”
“You can go to bed,” went on Dick, to his brothers. “I’ll stay up a bit longer and see if any message comes from dad.”
The Rovers left Dan Baxter’s apartment, and Sam and Tom retired, both worn out from their day’s exertions. Dick went below, to interview the hotel clerk.
“No message yet, sir,” said that individual. “If any comes in I will call you.”
Dick was about to turn away, when the telephone bell rang. He waited while the clerk listened for a moment.
“Yes, he’s here now,” he heard the clerk say. “Wait a moment.” The clerk turned to Dick. “There’s your party now. I’ll switch you into the booth yonder.”
Trembling with anticipation, Dick hurried to the booth, shut the door and took up the telephone receiver. The wire was buzzing, but presently he made out his father’s voice.
“Is that you, Dick?”
“Yes, Dad. Where are you?”
“At the hotel in Cedarville. I just got here a few minutes ago from a run across the lake.”
“Across the lake? What for? Did you go after the fortune?”
“No, I went after Mrs. Stanhope.”
“Then she is—is gone?” faltered Dick. He could scarcely speak the words.
“Yes. But how did you guess it?” And Anderson Rover’s tones showed his surprise.
“Tell me first where she went, and how?” demanded Dick, impatiently.
“We don’t know how she went, or just when. It is most mysterious all the way through. Dora is nearly frantic, for she did not know her mother was going. We followed her up and learned that she had crossed the lake in company with some man who wore a heavy, black beard and dark goggles.”
“It must have been Josiah Crabtree,” cried Dick, and then, in as few words as possible, he told of the meeting with Dan Baxter and what the young commercial traveler had revealed.
“Yes! yes! that must be the truth of it!” said Anderson Rover. “And Crabtree must have been the one who aided in getting the fortune from the bank where it was being kept.”
“Never mind the money, dad, just now. Tell me about Mrs. Stanhope.”
“I can’t tell you any more, Dick. I went across the lake in a launch, but I could get no trace of her on the other side. Now I am going back to the Stanhope house, and send Dora over to the Lanings. I want you to come up here the first thing in the morning,” added Mr. Rover.
“I’ll be up, and so will Sam and Tom,” answered Dick, and then after a few words more the telephone talk came to an end.
Dick slept but little that night. His one thought was of Mrs. Stanhope. What had become of her? Was it possible that Josiah Crabtree had in some way used his sinister influence to get her to leave her home, and would he be able to hypnotize her into marrying him?
“If he does that it will break Dora’s heart!” he groaned. “Oh, it’s an outrage! We don’t want such a scoundrel in the family!” And he grated his teeth in just indignation.
The first boat for Cedarville left directly after the breakfast hour. The Rovers dined with Dan Baxter and then bade the young commercial traveler good-bye.
“I’ll keep my eyes open for Crabtree and Sobber,” said Dan. “And if I see eit
her of ’em I’ll let you know at once.”
“Do,” said Dick. “Send word instantly—at my expense.”
The boys boarded the same little steamer, the Golden Star, which had first taken them up Cayuga Lake, when on their way to become pupils at Putnam Hall. The captain remembered them and spoke to them cordially. But none of the lads was in the humor of talking to outsiders.
As soon as Cedarville was reached they rushed ashore at the well-known dock. They were going to look around for a public carriage to take them to the Stanhope residence, some distance away, when a voice hailed them.
“Why, boys, I am glad to see you!” came in hearty tones, and the next instant they were shaking hands with Captain Putnam, the owner of the school which they had attended so many years.
“We are sorry, Captain, that we can’t stop to talk,” said Dick, “but we are in a tremendous hurry.”
“Yes, and I know why,” answered the owner of the school. “I met your father yesterday. Want to go to the Stanhope place?”
“Yes.”
“Then come with me. I have my carriage here, and my best team, and I’ll take pleasure in driving you there.”
“You are very kind,” answered Tom. “My! I almost feel as if I was going back to the school!”
“I’d be glad to have you back, Thomas.”
“In spite of my pranks, Captain?” and Tom grinned.
“Yes, in spite of your pranks,” answered Captain Putnam, promptly.
“And to think we are after Josiah Crabtree!” murmured Sam. “How time changes things!”
“I trust you catch him, and catch that Tad Sobber, too,” answered Captain Putnam, gravely.
The team was a spirited one, and the captain knew well how to handle them. Away they flew, through the village and then out on the smooth road leading to the Stanhope place. Dick relapsed into silence. He was thinking of Dora and of the girl’s missing mother.
CHAPTER XVIII
A FORTUNE AND A LADY DISAPPEAR
“And that’s all I know about it, Dick.”
It was Dora who was speaking. She was seated on the sofa with Dick beside her. She had been telling her story and weeping copiously at the same time. He had listened with great interest, and had comforted her all he could. Tom and Sam had gone off with Mr. Rover, to the Laning place, to interview Mr. Laning and his wife and see if they could throw any additional light on the mystery.
What Dora had to tell was not much, and it simply supplemented the story Mr. Rover had already related to his sons.
One day a strange messenger had appeared at the Stanhope house with a letter for Mrs. Stanhope. The communication was very brief and asked the lady to get the fortune from the trust company that was holding it and take it to Ithaca and there meet Mr. Rover. She was to do this in secret, for, as the letter said, Mr. Rover “wanted to make an investment of great importance, but one which must be kept from the general public, or the chance to buy stock at a low price would be lost.” The communication had been signed in the name of the Rover boys’ father.
Rather ignorant of business affairs, Mrs. Stanhope had taken the first boat she could get for Ithaca and gone to the trust company and gotten from her private box the whole fortune—her own share and also that of the Lanings. There she had gone to the office of the Adrell Lumber Company, where, so the letter stated, Mr. Rover was to meet her.
The Adrell company’s office proved to be a small affair on a side street, and on entering Mrs. Stanhope had met the messenger who had delivered the letter to her the day before. He had said that Mr. Rover was expected every minute and had requested her to sit down.
While the lady was waiting, with the fortune in her valise, a telephone had rung and the man in the office had gone to answer the call. He said Mr. Rover wished to speak to her. She had answered the telephone, and someone had spoken to her in a voice she believed to be Anderson Rover’s. The party at the other end of the wire had said he was then dickering for some valuable mining shares owned by a rich old man, and said the shares would surely go up to double value inside of a month.
“I can’t leave the old man,” came over the wire. “Is Mr. Barker there?”
The man in the office had said he was Mr. Barker, and then the man on the wire had vouchsafed the additional information to Mrs. Stanhope that he was an old friend and perfectly trustworthy. Then Mrs. Stanhope had been requested to turn the fortune over to Mr. Barker, who would deliver it to Mr. Rover without delay.
Thinking that all was fair and square, Mrs. Stanhope had delivered the valise to the man, who had gone off with it immediately. He had told her to go home and Mr. Rover would send her word before night about what he had done.
She had returned to Cedarville and to her home and there she had waited patiently to hear from Anderson Rover. No message coming for her, she had at last grown suspicious and sent word to the hotel at which the Rover boys’ father was supposed to be stopping. On receiving a reply that he was not there, and had not been there, she grew more alarmed than ever, and then sent the message to Oak Run which so mystified all of the Rovers.
“We have learned that the Adrell Lumber Company went out of business several months ago,” explained Dora. “The old signs were left up and the office was rented temporarily to a man who said he wanted to use it for storage purposes.”
“And it was rented that way just to fool your mother,” returned Dick.
On learning the truth Mrs. Stanhope had been all but overcome. She had sent word to Mr. Laning, but he could not come, having hurt his ankle as already mentioned.
Then, while Dora and her mother were in the house alone, another message had come. It was signed Tad Sobber, and stated that Sobber had the fortune and would return the greater portion of it provided Mrs. Stanhope would allow him to keep ten thousand dollars and promise not to prosecute him. If she agreed to this, she was to meet a certain man in Cedarville, who would take her across the lake, where she could meet Sobber and get back her valise with her precious belongings. She was particularly cautioned to come alone—otherwise the fortune would not be returned.
“And she went across the lake, and that is the last seen or heard of her,” said Dora, and then she burst into fresh tears.
“Have you seen anything lately of Josiah Crabtree?” questioned Dick.
“No, but mamma got a long letter from him, in which he said he loved her more than ever and that she had better make up her mind to marry him. The letter was so sickening mamma tore it up and put it in the stove.”
“Dora, I hate to alarm you more, but I think Crabtree had something to do with getting your mother to cross the lake.”
“What makes you say that, Dick?” she demanded, with a new fear coming into her face.
“I’ll tell you,” he answered, and then related the particulars of the meeting with Dan Baxter. When he concluded her face was very pale and her hands icy cold.
“Oh, Dick, would that—that monster carry her off and—and force mamma to marry him!” she moaned.
“I can’t answer that, Dora. But you’ll remember what a strange influence Crabtree used to exercise over her.”
“Yes! yes! But mamma was sickly then and her mind was weak. Now she is much stronger.”
“I think Crabtree is something of a hypnotist and mesmerist, and there is no telling what such a rascal will do when he sets out for it. He wants that fortune just as much as Sobber wants it. I think they are working this game between them.”
“But why would they take mamma away after they had the fortune?”
“Because the fortune is not all in gold. There is some very rare jewelry and precious stones. The thieves would have trouble in disposing of those things unless they had some semblance of a legal right to do so. If Mr. Crabtree was your mother’s husband he could take the jewelry and precious stones and sell them, and nobody would prosecute him.”
“Oh, Dick, what shall I do?”
“I don’t know that you can do anything, Dora. My advice is, that you go over and stay with the Lanings, and let us try to solve this mystery. We’ll do all we can, and we’ll make the authorities do all they can, too.”
“The Cedarville police are of no account—in a matter of such importance.”
“I know that. Father sent to New York for a couple of first-class detectives. Perhaps they’ll be able to get on the trail quicker than any of us realize.” But though Dick spoke thus it was more to allay Dora’s anxiety than through any faith in what the sleuths of the law might be able to accomplish.
The matter was talked over a little longer, and then Dora dressed and packed her suit-case and announced herself ready to go to the Laning farm, located some distance away. Dick drove her over. They found the whole household in excitement over what had occurred.
“I declare, that fortune has brought nothing but trouble from the start,” said Mrs. Laning, with a deep sigh. “Sometimes I wish we had never heard of it!”
“I shouldn’t care so much for the fortune, if only I knew mamma was safe!” answered Dora.
“I am going down to Cedarville and see if I can’t get on the trail of the party who took your mother across the lake,” said Dick.
“And I’ll go along,” came from Tom.
“So will I,” added Sam.
“I am going to Ithaca, to look into that lumber office business,” said Mr. Rover. “I want to get a good description of the fellow who got that valise with the fortune.” In his excitement he did not think of his injured knee.
All drove to Cedarville, and there Mr. Rover took the boat down Lake Cayuga. The boys walked along the docks, looking for a man named Belcher, who rented out small boats. They found the fellow at a boathouse, putting a new seat in a rowboat.
“Do you know anything of this affair?” asked Dick, after he had learned how the news of Mrs. Stanhope’s disappearance, and the disappearance of the fortune, had spread.
“I was just thinking I might know something,” answered Caleb Belcher, slowly. He was known to be a man who never hurried.
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