The watchman was indeed in bad shape. He had been found thrown under a
workbench, and just returning to consciousness. He had a cut over his
left ear and another on his forehead, from which the blood had flowed
freely.
"Must have struck him with a club, or an iron bar," was the opinion of
the chief, as the injured man was carried into the office and placed on
some chair cushions. Here his wounds were washed and bound up, while one
officer ran to get a doctor who lived not a great distance off.
It was some little time before Tony Wells, who was nearly seventy years
of age, opened his eyes to stare around him.
"Don't--don't hit me again!" he murmured. "I--I didn't touch you!"
"It's all right, Tony!" said the chief. "Those fellows are gone. You're
among friends."
"They--knocked me down!" gasped the old watchman. "I--I--tried to
telephone--after the explosion, but--but----" He could not go on, and
suddenly relapsed again into unconsciousness.
"Poor fellow!" said Mr. Wadsworth, tenderly. "We must do what we can for
him."
"Is anything missing besides the jewels?" asked Dave, while they were
waiting for the doctor to come, and waiting to hear from the others who
had gone out.
"No, Dave. But that is enough. If they are not recovered, I shall be
ruined."
"Can they hold you responsible for the loss?"
"Yes, for when I took the jewels to re-set I guaranteed the safe return
of each jewel. I had to do that because they were afraid some workmen
might try to substitute other jewels not so good--which is sometimes
done."
"And you said they were worth seventy-five thousand dollars?"
"All of that."
"Those robbers certainly made a haul."
"It drives me crazy to think about it," groaned Oliver Wadsworth.
"Perhaps the others who went out will catch them," answered our hero,
hopefully.
Soon the doctor arrived and took charge of old Tony Wells, whom he knew
well. As Wells was a widower, living alone, the doctor said he would
take the old man to his own home, where he could have constant
attention.
"He is already in a fever," said the physician. "We had better not try
to question him at present. It will only excite him the more." And a
little later the sufferer was placed on a litter and carried to the
doctor's residence.
By this time the news was circulating that the Wadsworth jewelry works
had been robbed, and many persons spent the rest of the night looking
for the two young men who were supposed to be guilty of the crime.
Oliver Wadsworth and an officer remained at the offices, guarding the
wrecked place and looking for clews of the evildoers. But nothing in the
way of evidence against the robbers was brought to light, excepting that
they had used several drills and some dynamite on the two old safes,
probably blowing them up simultaneously. They had taken the tool-bag
with its contents with them and also another small valise, belonging to
one of Mr. Wadsworth's traveling salesmen.
"I can't understand why Tony Wells didn't discover them when they first
came in," said Dave.
"Maybe he did and they made him a prisoner," suggested Mr. Wadsworth.
"Tony was very faithful--the best watchman I ever had."
Daylight came at last and still the search for the two robbers was kept
up. In the meantime, telegrams and telephone messages had been sent in
all directions. To stimulate the searchers Mr. Wadsworth offered a
reward of one thousand dollars for the recovery of the jewels and this
reward was later on increased to five thousand dollars.
When Tony Wells was well enough to tell his story he said he had been
going the rounds of the works when he suddenly found himself confronted
by two masked men. He had started to cry out and run for help when the
men had seized him and thrown him down and bound him fast to a
work-bench. Then the men had gone to the offices, and later on had come
the explosion. He knew they were blowing open the safes and did what he
could to free himself. At last he managed to get free, but found himself
too weak to run for help. He had dragged himself to the telephone in the
shipping-room and was sending his message to Mr. Wadsworth when the
masked men had again appeared and knocked him down. That was all he
remembered until the time he was found, as already described.
"You did not see the faces of the two men?" asked Oliver Wadsworth.
"No, sir, they were all covered with black masks. But I think the
fellows was rather young-like," answered the old watchman. "Both of 'em
was about the size of Dave Porter,--but neither of 'em was Dave,--I know
that by the voices," he went on, hastily.
"No, Dave was at home with me," said Oliver Wadsworth. "But he and one
of his friends passed the works just before the explosion."
The news of the robbery had upset the Wadsworth household completely.
Mrs. Wadsworth was as much distressed as her husband, and Jessie was as
pale as if seriously ill.
"Oh, Dave, supposing the jewels are not recovered!" said Jessie, when
they met in the hallway. "It will ruin father,--I heard him tell mamma
so!"
"We are going to get them back--we've simply got to do it," Dave replied.
"But how? Nobody seems to know what has become of the robbers."
"Oh, just wait, Jessie. We are sure to get some trace of them sooner or
later."
"What makes you so hopeful, Dave?" and now the girl suddenly clutched
his arm. "Have you a clew?"
"I think so, but I am not sure. I am going to talk to your father about
it, and then I am going to take another look around Crumville and around
the offices."
Dave's father and his Uncle Dunston had been out all day, and so had
Phil and Roger and Ben, and a score of others, including the officers of
the law. But nothing had been seen or heard of the mysterious men with
the tool-bag. Another tramp had been rounded up, but he knew absolutely
nothing of the crime and was let go again.
Oliver Wadsworth's face was white and drawn and he looked as if he had
suddenly grown five years older. He had a long, private conversation
with Dave's father and Dunston Porter, and all three men looked very
grave when the conference came to an end.
There was good cause for this seriousness. The new addition to the
jewelry works had placed Mr. Wadsworth in debt. The Porters had lent him
twenty thousand dollars, and, just then, could lend him no more, having
a number of obligations of their own to meet.
The Carwith jewels were the property of Mr. and Mrs. Ridgeway Osgood
Carwith, of Fifth Avenue, New York City. The Carwiths were now on a trip
around the world, but were expected home some time in the spring. Mr.
Wadsworth had agreed to re-set the jewels according to designs already
accepted by the millionaire and his wife, and had guaranteed the safe
return of the jewels, re-set as specified, not later than the first of
the following May. As the millionaire was a strict business man he had
demanded a bond for the safe return of his property, and this bond had
been given by Mr. Wadsworth, indorsed by David Breslow Porter and
Dunston Porter.
Thus it will readily be seen that the millionaire and his wife were
amply secured. If they did not get the jewels back they would demand the
payment of the bond, worth seventy-five thousand dollars, and Mr.
Wadsworth and the Porters would have to make good.
On the second day after the robbery, Dave, Roger, and Phil went down to
the jewelry works and began a close investigation on their own account.
Dave had mentioned something to his chums that had caused them to open
their eyes in astonishment.
An hour was spent around the offices, and then Phil picked up an empty
cigarette case. He took it to Dave and Roger and both looked at it with
keen interest.
"I guess that is another clew," said our hero. "Let us look around some
more."
"I'm going for the train now," said the senator's son, a little later.
"And as soon as I find Hooker Montgomery I'll let you know."
"Yes, and make him come here, whether he wants to or not," cried Dave.
"You leave that to me," answered Roger, grimly.
Oliver Wadsworth had been interviewing a private detective, and soon the
man left, stating he thought he could lay his hands on the guilty
parties.
"I'll look for Tom Basnett," said the detective. "This looks like one of
his jobs."
"I don't care whose job it is--I want the jewels back," said Mr.
Wadsworth, wearily. He had not slept since the crime had been committed.
"Mr. Wadsworth, Phil and I would like to talk to you in private," said
Dave, when he could get the chance.
"You have some clew, Dave?"
"Well, I want to tell you something, and then you can judge for
yourself."
"Very well, come with me," answered the manufacturer, and led the way to
a little side-room, used by the salesmen for exhibiting wares to
possible customers.
"I want to tell you all about something that happened early in the
winter, while I was at Oak Hall," said Dave. And then he told of how he
had called on the fake doctor, Hooker Montgomery, and how he had been
attacked from behind and made a prisoner, and carried off to a house in
the woods, the particulars of which have already been set down in "Dave
Porter and His Rivals."
"The fellows who carried me off were the doctor and the driver, who was
only a tool, and two fellows who have caused me a lot of trouble in the
past, Nick Jasniff and Link Merwell," went on our hero. "When I got away
I tried to follow up Jasniff and Merwell, but they got away from me, and
so did the driver get away. But one day I found Hooker Montgomery, and
by threatening to have him arrested I made him confess to the truth,
which was that Jasniff and Merwell had hired him to help get me in their
power. At first they told Montgomery it was only a schoolboy trick, and
he said he believed them, but, later on, it leaked out that Jasniff and
Merwell had another motive in making me a prisoner."
"And that motive----?" began Oliver Wadsworth, with deep interest.
"Doctor Montgomery said that Jasniff and Merwell had in mind to drug me
and take me to some place a good distance from Oak Hall. He said he also
heard them speak of robbing a jewelry works, and I was to be drugged and
left in the factory,--to make it appear as if I had done the deed and as
if the blowing up of a safe had stunned me."
"Dave, is this possible!" exclaimed the manufacturer.
"It is true, Mr. Wadsworth," said Phil. "I was along and so was Roger at
the time. Montgomery couldn't give many details, but he said he thought
Jasniff and Merwell were cold-blooded villains and he wanted nothing
more to do with them."
"This looks as if those rascals, Jasniff and Merwell, had come here."
"I believe they did come," went on Dave. "And here is one clew we have
already picked up against them." And he held up the empty cigarette box.
"What is that? Only a cigarette box. How can that be a clew?"
"I will tell you. Both Jasniff and Merwell are inveterate cigarette
smokers. I have seen them smoking many times. They smoke a Turkish brand
of cigarettes, having a peculiar blue and gold band around the box. This
is the same kind of a box, and I am convinced that this box was emptied
and thrown away in your offices by Jasniff or Merwell."