“You tell that to the police and see what they have to say about it,” sneered Haddon, “You know well enough that you set fire to John Calder’s barn and burnt up horses that was worth thousands of dollars.”
“And I always said it was some cowboys or tramps that did it!” stormed Brassy.
“Not much! You did it! I know it, and so do Jillson and Dusenbury! We’ve got the goods on you.”
“What were Jillson and Dusenbury and you doing around the place?” questioned Brassy suddenly.
“Never mind what we were doing around there. We know you set the barn on fire. Didn’t you have a quarrel with old Calder?”
“Yes, I did. But I didn’t make any fire. Maybe you had a quarrel with him yourself.”
“Hold on there, Bangs! None of that!” cried Bud Haddon sternly.
“Well, you wouldn’t be too good to set the fire,”added Brassy, with sudden recklessness. “Not after the way you are acting out here, running away with those horses, and after the way you acted at Colby Hall, trying to rob every room in the place!”
“Wait a minute now! Wait a minute!” returned the man sarcastically. “Who was it lent me his uniform and who was it that told me just what rooms to go into? Answer me those questions, will you?”
“You wouldn’t have gotten hold of the uniform and you wouldn’t have gotten any information if you hadn’t threatened me in all sorts of ways,” answered Brassy, somewhat lamely. “I wish now that I’d never had anything to do with you!”
“Well, you keep your tongue between your teeth, or else you’ll get yourself in the hottest kind of water!” burst out Bud Haddon. “Don’t you know that they can send you to prison for ten years for what you did?”
“I haven’t said anything to anybody as yet,”answered Brassy hastily.
“Well, you see that you don’t!”
“But I didn’t set Calder’s barn on fire—really I didn’t!” pleaded the boy. “I don’t see why you won’t believe me.”
“I’m willing to let that matter drop if only you’ll keep a civil tongue in your head and mind what you’re doing,” returned Bud Haddon. “And don’t forget—I want at least a hundred dollars more just as soon as you can lay your hands on it.”
“I don’t see how I’m going to get it. I’m expecting some money from my uncle. But that has got to pay for my tuition at Colby Hall this fall.”
“Well, you let the school wait for its money and you turn it over to me. They won’t want you there anyhow if they should find out what sort of a fellow you are,” went on Bud Haddon coarsely. “Now I’ve got to be getting back to Bimbel’s, rain or no rain,” he continued. “Just remember, you’ve got to fork over a hundred in cold cash before you start East again. If you don’t—well, look out, that’s all!” And with this threat the tall man rode out of the cave.
The Rovers and their chums had listened to every word that had been spoken. They were both mystified and amazed by what had been said.
“That fellow Haddon is surely a first-class rascal,”whispered Spouter to Jack.
“Do you know what I think we had better do?”returned the young major. “Let’s stop Brassy and have a straight talk with him. I don’t think he’s quite as bad as we thought he might be.”
“Yes, let us stop Brassy by all means,” came in a low tone from Fred.
Brassy Bangs had ridden to the mouth of the cave and there sat astride of his horse, watching Bud Haddon as he galloped away though the rain. Then he turned back in anything but a cheerful humor. The other boys saw him dismount and sink down on a rock, covering his face with his hands.
“Come on,” said Jack, and without more ado he scrambled down from the rocks and came around to where Brassy was sitting, and the others did the same.
Brassy’s misery was so great that for several seconds he did not notice their approach. Then, he looked up startled and leaped to his feet.
“Where did you come from?” he demanded, as soon as he could speak.
“We came from the other end of the cave, Brassy,” answered Jack.
“How long have you been here?”
“We’ve been here long enough to hear the talk you had with that fellow named Haddon,” answered Fred.
“You did!” Brassy turned pale. “It wasn’t very nice to listen when you had no business to!”
“Never mind about that now, Brassy. What we want to know is, did you or that fellow rob Colby Hall?”
“He did it! I didn’t have a thing to do with it—at least, willingly!” cried Brassy Bangs. “He forced me to do everything I did. He threatened me in all sorts of ways—said he would put me in prison and all that if I didn’t help him. Oh, he’s the worst man there ever was!” groaned the overwrought boy. And now the others could see that he was on the verge of collapse.
“See here, Brassy, why don’t you tell us the whole story?” put in Gif kindly.
“Why should I tell my story to you? All you fellows are against me—you always were!”
“We’re not against you, Brassy,” answered Jack. “If you can prove to us that you’re really being hounded by that man, we’ll do what we can to help you. Isn’t that so, fellows?” And at this question the others nodded.
“Hounded is right! He’s done nothing but hound me ever since he knew me,” whined the accused one.
“You tell me one thing!” demanded Spouter, striding up and catching Brassy by the shoulder.“Did that rascal steal the horses from our ranch?”
“I think he did—in fact, I’m about certain he did. That is, either he or the fellows he’s in league with.”
“Who are those other fellows?”
“Two fellows who just came out here from Chicago named Jillson and Dusenbury and two others from Bimbel’s ranch named Noxley and Jenks. The whole bunch were mixed up with Bimbel some years ago in a shady transaction, and they lit out for quite a while. But now they’re back again.”
“I don’t see why you want to get mixed up with a crowd like that,” was Andy’s comment.
“I didn’t want to get mixed up with ’em,” declared Brassy. “I haven’t had a thing to do with any of ’em except Bud Haddon. Oh, I wish I’d never met that man!” And now Brassy seemed almost on the verge of tears.
CHAPTER XXIX
A CONFESSION
After that it was an easy matter for the other boys to get Brassy to make a complete confession.
“My first trouble came when I got a job with John Calder who has a farm on the outskirts of Omaha,” said Brassy. “I had had a quarrel at home, and also a quarrel with my uncle here, and had made up my mind to get a place and support myself. But I couldn’t get along with Calder, who was a very strict man, and one afternoon we had a lively quarrel, and I told him I’d leave, and I did so and went to Omaha. About a week after that Calder’s barn burned down and a number of horses were caught in the fire. That was just after I had fallen in with Bud Haddon and his two chums, Jillson and Dusenbury. Haddon pretended to be quite friendly. But all at once he accused me of setting the fire and said that Jillson and Dusenbury, who had left the day before, could prove it. I protested my innocence, but he insisted I was guilty and worked me up to such an extent that I gave him almost every dollar I had in my pocket to keep him quiet.”
“And you say positively that you had nothing to do with the fire?” questioned Fred.
“Not a thing!”
“Couldn’t you prove that you weren’t there when the fire took place?” asked Andy.
“No, I couldn’t, because I went to a vaudeville show that evening, and I was among strangers, so that I couldn’t account for my time.”
“Did Haddon hound you when you came to Colby Hall?” questioned Gif.
“He certainly did—not once, but half a dozen times. And I gave him all the money I could scrape up. In fact, I even borrowed some money from Halliday a
nd a couple of the other fellows.”
“But what about the robbery at the Hall?’”questioned Fred.
“Several times Haddon came to me and spoke in a mysterious manner about its being an easy matter to make a big haul. Then he hinted about the robbery; but I would have nothing to do with it. On the afternoon when we were getting ready to celebrate that night, he sent word that he wanted to see me at a certain barn not far from the school. When I got there he demanded that I help him go through the bedrooms while the fellows were having a good time on the campus and down by the river. I said I wouldn’t do it, and then all of a sudden he hit me on the head and knocked me down. Then he stripped me of my trousers and jacket and tied me fast in one of the disused horse stalls.”
“And you mean to say he used your uniform in stealing into the school?” asked Spouter.
“That’s it. I didn’t know it at the time, because he went to another part of the barn where I couldn’t see him. But later on, when he brought the uniform back, he told me all about it. He thought he had been wonderfully slick.”
“Why didn’t you expose him at once?” demanded Jack.
“He told me that if I exposed him he would tell the authorities that I had planned the whole scheme and that I had done most of the work myself. He said some one had seen him in the uniform scooting from one room to another, so that the report would circulate that some cadet was guilty. He got me so worked up that at last I promised to keep quiet.”
“And had he really robbed your room, too?”demanded Fred.
“Yes. I lost my stuff just as I reported. Oh, you can’t imagine how I felt!” went on Brassy Bangs in a hopeless tone of voice. “Many a time I thought I’d go to Colonel Colby and confess everything. But then I thought they would bring that old charge of barn-burning up against me, as well as the charge of helping in the robbery, and I didn’t have nerve enough to say a word. Oh, I know I was a big fool! I should have faced it out!”
“Wait a minute!” put in Jack suddenly. “Are you pretty sure Haddon, as well as Dusenbury and Jillson, are guilty of making off with the horses that are missing?”
“I am!”
“Well, then, isn’t it possible that those three went to this John Calder’s barn and stole some of the horses and then set fire to the place to cover the theft?”
“By golly, I’ll bet that’s just what they did!”burst out Brassy Bangs. “I remember now that the reports in the newspapers said the fire had been so fierce that the carcasses of the horses had been burnt up completely. They only found some of the bones in the ruins. Oh, if they really did do that!”
“Did Calder have any particularly good horses?”
“Yes, he had a splendid team of matched grays that were worth considerable money. He thought more of the grays than he did of all his other horses put together.”
“I’ll wager a toothpick against a lemon that gang stole the grays before the fire,” declared Andy emphatically.
“The police ought to arrest those three men and put ’em through what they call the third degree,”remarked Gif.
“I’d like to know one other thing,” went on Andy, and now his face showed a slight grin.“What do you know about your Uncle Jarley’s auto running away by itself?”
“Oh, please don’t mention that tin junk wagon!” pleaded Brassy. “I started it, and the blamed thing ran over me, and I was lame for a week.”
“Does your uncle know anything about what Haddon and his crowd are up to?” questioned Jack.
“Not exactly. Although he’s becoming suspicious of the whole gang around the Bimbel place. You know he’s never trusted Bimbel since the man got into difficulty with the authorities several years ago.”
After that the seven boys talked the matter over for half an hour longer. And then the others insisted upon it that Brassy accompany them to the other entrance to the cave, and there all sat down to partake of the lunch brought from Big Horn Ranch.
Brassy appeared much relieved by the confession he had made, and readily answered all the questions put to him. His assertive manner had left him entirely, and he appeared quite humble.
“If he ever gets out of this I’ll bet he’ll be a different fellow,” whispered Randy to Fred.
“I think so myself,” was the reply. “But how he is going to square himself with Colonel Colby remains to be seen. It was a serious piece of business to let Haddon steal all those things from the school and say nothing about it.”
While the boys were eating the storm stopped, and less than an hour later the sun was shining as before.
“I think we might as well be on our way back to the ranch,” remarked Spouter. “The sooner we get there and let our fathers know how matters stand, the better.”
“Don’t you want to go with us, Brassy?” asked Jack.
“If I did that I couldn’t get back to my uncle’s place to-night, and then he’d worry about me. Otherwise I would just as lief go to your place as not. Now that I’ve told you everything I’d like to see the whole matter cleaned up, and quick too.”
“How far is it to your uncle’s ranch?” asked Fred.
“Not over a mile and a half.”
“Then suppose we go there first, and then all of us can strike out for Big Horn Ranch. Maybe your uncle will want to take part in what is going on,” said Jack.
“I wish you would go with me!” cried Brassy eagerly. “I’m afraid my uncle will raise Cain when I tell him the truth.”
“He won’t dare do much when we’re around,”answered Gif. “If he gets too ugly you can clear out and meet us on the way to our place.”
“That’s the talk,” said Randy.
Again there was a discussion, but in the end it was decided that the whole party should lose no time in getting to Jarley Bangs’ ranch. They would explain matters to Brassy’s uncle, and then set out for Songbird Powell’s place.
The campfire was speedily stamped out, and leaping into the saddle, the seven boys set out for the Bangs’ place, Brassy leading the way, with Spouter beside him. It was a wet and dismal ride through the woods, and it is safe to say that Brassy felt every bit as dismal as his surroundings.
“Gee, but I certainly am sorry for him!” whispered Andy to his twin. “He isn’t a fellow that I would cotton to, but he certainly has got himself into a pickle.”
Presently the woods were left behind and they came out on the open prairie. Here the sun shone brightly, and the trail was drying rapidly. They urged their steeds into a gallop, and in a short while came in sight of the Jarley Bangs’ outfit.
As they rode up they saw Jarley Bangs come from the ranch house and move swiftly toward one of the stables where the horses were kept. He was evidently in a hurry and much excited.
“Hello! where have you been?” he demanded of his nephew. “Where did you pick up these chaps?”
“I met ’em during the storm over at Twin Caves,” answered Brassy.
“It’s a wonder you wouldn’t stay around the house once in a while,” grumbled Jarley Bangs.“If you would, maybe I wouldn’t be losing things.”
“Losing things! What do you mean, Uncle Jarley?” questioned the nephew quickly.
“What do I mean?” stormed the ranch owner.“Do you know what has happened since you went away?”
“No.”
“Well, then, I’ll tell you! Two of our best horses have been stolen! Right out of the stable, too!” exclaimed Jarley Bangs wrathfully. “Duster and old Whitehead!”
“Stolen!” came from all of the boys simultaneously.
“Yes, stolen! Nobody saw ’em taken, but they’re gone, and not a man on the ranch was near’em!”
“I’ll wager that’s more of Bud Haddon’s work,” declared Jack quickly.
“But he wasn’t here—he was over at the caves,” returned Fred.
“Well, if he didn’t do it,
then some members of his gang did,” put in Randy.
“I’m going to have the law on somebody for this!” stormed Jarley Bangs. “Too many horses in this neighborhood have been stolen. I’m going to visit some of the other ranchmen and notify the sheriff, and see if we can’t raise a posse to run down the rascals.”
“That’s the way to talk, Mr. Bangs!” cried Spouter. “And we know just what gang to go after.”
CHAPTER XXX
THE CAPTURE—CONCLUSION
Less than an hour later found the whole party, including Jarley Bangs, on the way to Big Horn Ranch.
Brassy’s uncle had listened with keen interest to the story his nephew and the other lads had to relate. He had interrupted a number of times to ask questions, and at the finish of the recital had held up both hands in disgust.
“You’re a bigger fool than I ever thought you were, Lester,” he had told his nephew. “Why in thunder didn’t you tell your folks and me all about this just as soon as it happened? We could have set a trap for those rascals and caught ’em easy.”
“But, Uncle Jarley, remember how I was tied up in that Colby Hall affair!” Brassy had pleaded.
“I don’t believe Colonel Colby would hold you responsible for that—not after he’d made a thorough investigation. But that ain’t here nor there. What we want to do now is to grab those fellows before they’ve a chance to make a get-away. I’d just like to ketch ’em with Duster and Whitehead in their possession! I think I could find enough old-timers around here to hand all of ’em a rope,” and Jarley Bangs’ eyes had flashed with a fire that was anything but agreeable.
The Rover boys and their chums had thought to take the regular trail leading back to Big Horn Ranch, but Jarley Bangs told them he knew of a shorter way.
“We can cut off over a mile,” said he. “And I reckon the quicker we get a posse out the better.”
“Don’t you suppose we can round them up around Bimbel’s ranch almost any time?” queried Spouter.
“Maybe, and maybe not. We’d probably be able to get the others, but Haddon, Dusenbury and Jillson come and go. Sometimes they’re here, and sometimes in Omaha and Chicago.”
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