THE MEETING ON THE ROAD
There was an intense silence, following the announcement of Jason
Sparr that he intended to send Dave and his chums to prison for
attempting to blow up the hotel. In the meantime the hotel man and the
constable got down from the seat of the covered wagon.
"I've got the warrants fer the arrest, boys," said Constable Hickson,
somewhat importantly.
"Mr. Sparr, I'd like a word with you," said Dave, as calmly as he
could speak under the circumstances.
"I ain't got no more to say than I've said," returned Jason Sparr,
stubbornly. "You done it, and I can prove it! The constable is going
to do his duty and arrest you!"
"Dave, I--I won't stand for it!" whispered Phil, hoarsely. "It's
terrible! I--I can't stand it!" And he began to back away.
"Hi, there! stop!" yelled the hotel man. "Stop him, Hickson! Don't let
him get away!"
"You sha'n't arrest me for nothing!" cried the shipowner's son, and
like a flash he turned around and started off on a run.
"Come back here, Phil!" called out Dave. "Come back! You are making a
mistake by running away!"
But Phil did not hear, nor did Ben and Buster, who had also taken to
their heels. Roger ran a few steps, then halted, and came back to our
hero's side.
"You are right, Dave," he said. "It's best to face the music."
Phil, Ben, and Buster had turned towards Oak Hall. Phil was in the
lead, but the others soon caught up to him.
"Wha--what are you go--going to d--do?" panted Ben.
"I'm not going to let them arrest me!" answered Phil. "I didn't do it,
and I'm not going to jail."
"Let us hide until we can get our folks to help us," suggested Buster.
The thought of going to a lockup filled him with dread.
"I'm going to notify my folks, too," said Ben.
"The trouble is, I don't know where my folks are just now," came from
the shipowner's son. "My father went on a trip on one of his vessels
and mother is visiting relatives."
The boys had kept on running on the road. But now, as they saw the
constable after them, they turned and dashed into a side-path leading
to the river.
"A motor-boat!" cried Ben, a few seconds later.
"It's the Kingsley boat," added Buster. "I know Tom will let us use
it--he said I could do it once. Let us go across in it."
All leaped on board, and Ben started up the engine while Buster took
the wheel. There came a put! put! as the fly-wheel was turned over,
and the little craft, which belonged to a boy living on the
river-bank, headed out into the Leming River.
In the meantime, while Constable Hickson was running after the
fugitives, Jason Sparr and the driver of the covered wagon confronted
Dave and Roger.
"Don't you try to run!" bawled the hotel-keeper.
"I'm armed," added the keeper of the town lockup, suggestively.
"I don't intend to run, Mr. Sparr," answered Dave.
"Why should we run, since we have done nothing wrong?" added the
senator's son. He tried to follow Dave's example and remain calm, but
he was tremendously disturbed.
"Did those three fellows do it alone?" queried the hotel man,
eagerly. "If they did, you had better confess to it, and clear
yourselves."
"None of us are guilty," answered Dave.
"I know better."
"You do not. Since we didn't do it, Mr. Sparr, I don't see how you can
prove that we did,--unless you have manufactured some evidence against
us," went on our hero, pointedly, a new idea coming into his head.
"I ain't manufactured no evidence!" bawled Jason Sparr. "Didn't that
young rascal of a Lawrence say he'd get square with me, and didn't all
of you say the same? Wasn't you down to the blowing up of the bridge,
right where they had all that dynamite stored? Wasn't some of the
dynamite sticks stolen? Didn't you fellows come right by the hotel
afterwards? Wasn't the blowing up done by clockwork, made to go off
hours after it was set? You can't tell me! You are guilty. Besides, I
got other evidence--I got a letter," added the hotel-keeper,
shrewdly.
"A letter? About us?"
Jason Sparr nodded.
"Saying we were guilty?"
"Yes."
"Who wrote it?"
"Never mind that. You're guilty, and you know it. Just wait till
Hickson comes back with them others and I'll show you a thing or
two," continued the hotel man, harshly.
"Mr. Sparr, I said I wanted to talk to you, and I do want to," said
Dave, after a pause. "You will find it to your advantage to listen to
me. You have got this whole thing settled in your own mind, but you
are dead wrong. You intend to have us locked up for something we
didn't do. To have us locked up will blacken our characters and
blacken the reputation of Oak Hall. My folks are respectable people,
and so are the folks of the other boys. Do you think they will stand
for this sort of thing? And do you think Doctor Clay will stand for
it? If you do, you are greatly mistaken. If you have us arrested on
this charge, which is absolutely false, I'll get my folks to sue you
for false imprisonment and defamation of character, and I know the
other fellows will do the same. And you can rest assured that the
charges against you will be pushed to the limits of the law."
At this plain talk Jason Sparr's jaw dropped. Several times he was on
the point of interrupting, but thought better of it.
"Well, now--er----" he stammered when Dave had finished.
"My father is a United States senator," said Roger. "You don't suppose
he will let a matter like this pass unnoticed? If you do anything to
besmirch our family name, you'll take the consequences."
"Your father is a United States senator?" faltered Jason Sparr.
"He is, and Dave's father is a rich man, and so is Phil Lawrence's
father. Of course, our money has nothing to do with it, excepting that
it will enable us to stand up for our rights in the courts, and get
able lawyers to defend us. We are innocent of all wrongdoing. If
anybody is in the wrong it is you, for you cheated Phil Lawrence out
of the money he advanced to you for that spread we were to have at
your hotel."
"Cheated him!" cried the hotel-keeper.
"That is what it amounted to, for you took his money and gave him
nothing in return."
"He called the spread off----"
"He did not, and we can prove it," said Dave, following up what he
thought looked like an advantage. "Why, if he wanted to do it, Phil
could have you locked up for swindling."
"What, me? Locked up?" cried the hotel man.
"Certainly. Why not? It's as reasonable as your charge against
us--more reasonable, in fact, for you kept his money and gave him
nothing in return," went on our hero, warmly.
"Well, now what do you know about that?" grumbled Jason Sparr, turning
to the driver of the covered wagon. But the lockup man merely
shrugged his shoulders. Privately he was of the opinion that the boys
were not such rascals as had been pictured.
"If those fellows wasn't guilty, why did they run away?" continued
Jason Sparr, after an awkward pause.
"Because you scared them," responded Roger. "I would have run away
myself if it hadn't been for Dave."
"Humph!"
All looked along the road. Constable Hickson had disappeared, having
followed the runaways down to the river. Presently he came back, out
of breath from his exertions.
"Did you get 'em?" queried the hotel-keeper, eagerly.
"No, they got away in a motor-boat."
"A motor-boat!" repeated Dave and Roger, and looked at each other in
astonishment.
"Yes, went up the river out of sight," said Paul Hickson. "Too bad!
But we've got two of 'em, anyway," he added, looking at our hero and
the senator's son.
"I wanted Lawrence more than I did the others," grumbled Jason Sparr.
He was doing some deep thinking and his face showed that he was much
disturbed.
"Mr. Sparr, just remember what I said," remarked Dave, pointedly. "If
you go ahead, take my word for it, it will cost you dear."
"Say, Hickson, we'll drop this matter for the present," said the
hotel-keeper, in a low tone.
"Drop it?" ejaculated the constable. "Ain't you goin' to have these
two took up?"
"Not just now. I--er--I want to get more evidence first, if I can. We
can get them any time we want them."
"But who is going to pay me for my trouble? I've got them warrants to
serve right in my pocket, and----"
"I'll fix that up with you," answered the hotel man, in a whisper.
"Come on. We can come back later." And then the hotel man said
something to the driver of the wagon. The latter merely nodded and got
back to his seat. Jason Sparr climbed up beside him, and the constable
slowly followed.
"I don't understand----" went on the constable; but Jason Sparr merely
pinched his arm, and he stopped short.
"Just remember, this ain't settled yet!" cried the hotel-keeper, to
Dave and Roger. "I'm going to look into it a bit deeper before I make
a move, that's all. I know some of you done it, and I'll have you in
prison for it yet, see if I don't!" And he shook his head grimly; and
then the covered wagon was turned around, and the three men drove off
in the direction of Oakdale.
"Oh, Dave, do you think they'll come back?" cried Roger, when the men
were out of hearing.
"There is no telling what they will do, Roger. But you can make up
your mind to one thing--Sparr won't come back until he has more
evidence than he has at present."
"But how can he get evidence? Surely you don't think Phil and the
others guilty, even if they did run away."
"No, I think Phil and the others are as innocent as we are. But I
can't understand some things. Somebody used that dynamite and somebody
wrote a letter to Sparr about us. The question is, Who was it?"
"Could it be Nat Poole?"
"I don't think Nat would be bad enough to try to blow up a hotel."
"It certainly was an awful thing to do." Roger drew a long breath.
"What shall we do now, go back to school?"
"We might as well. If we don't, old Haskers will be after us again."
"Do you think Phil and the others will come back?"
"Why not? As soon as they have time to think it over they'll realize
it is best to face the music," answered Dave.
He and Roger returned to Oak Hall. They had missed one class, but
fortunately that was one presided over by Mr. Dale, and he readily
excused them when they said they had had some personal matters of
importance to attend to, and would explain later.
"It is bound to come out, sooner or later," said Dave to his chum. "So
we might as well take Doctor Clay and Mr. Dale into our confidence."
"I suppose you are right," answered the senator's son. Nevertheless,
he heaved a deep sigh, as he thought of what might be the outcome of
the trouble. What if, after all, Jason Sparr should concoct some sort
of evidence against them and send them all to prison?