DAVENPORT'S ACCUSATION
"Then the Lorimer Spell claim is positively no good!" exclaimed Jack.
"I wouldn't say that exactly, Jack. No claim down here can be said to be
worthless until it has actually been bored for oil. It is just possible
that those oil experts may be mistaken. At the same time, from what Mr.
Fitch said, I would be very slow about putting money in that land."
"It's too bad, Uncle Dick, if that claim's no good when we all supposed
it would be so wonderful," came from Fred, and his face showed his
disappointment.
"Well, I haven't lost anything," answered his Uncle Dick. "I feel a
great deal better than if I had sunk thirty or forty thousand dollars in
a dry hole."
Andy began to snicker.
"Gee! it's rich, Uncle Dick, to pass Davenport and that crowd the white
elephant," he chuckled. "I only hope they get bit bad, especially if
they were the rascals who came here and knocked you out."
"They must have been the crowd, because no one else would be interested
in those documents. They knew I was going to Wichita Falls to get them,
and they probably hung around waiting for my return. And they probably
got Martell and Brown to get you boys out of the way. The story about
Gabe Werner having a broken leg was probably faked up."
"Nappy admitted that he and Slugger expected to work for the Davenport
crowd," said Jack. "They are all tarred with the same stick, and I hope
they get stuck bad."
"Uncle Dick, why don't you pretend to be terribly put out over the fact
that you have lost your interest in the claim?" cried Andy. "That will
throw them completely off the track. Let them imagine that you think
there is a lot of oil to be found there."
"I'll think it over and at the same time I'll think over what other
investments I might make while I'm down here. But just at present I
think I'll try to get a good night's sleep and reduce this swelling on
my head," added Jack's father, as he felt of the bump tenderly.
"I know one person who would like you to interest yourself in his
claim!" exclaimed Jack. "That is Mr. John Franklin, the man we saved
from drowning in the Rick Rack River freshet."
Thereupon the boys told of their meeting with Mr. Franklin and Phil, and
also related what particulars they knew concerning the man's land and
how he had gotten it out of the clutches of the oil sharpers.
"That might be worth looking into," said Dick Rover. "I'll take it up a
little later, after I feel better, and after I have had it out with
Davenport and his crowd."
The boys assisted Jack's father to his room and Jack aided him in
retiring. Meanwhile Randy went down to interview the sleepy hotel clerk.
"That fellow doesn't know a thing about what happened," announced Randy
on his return. "Those men must have come in and gone out while he was
taking a snooze. And as luck would have it for those rascals, no one
else seems to have been around."
With nothing of special importance to do, the whole crowd slept late on
the following morning, which was Sunday. Dick Rover was glad to take it
easy, but declined to have a physician when that was suggested.
"It was only an ordinary blow, and did nothing more than knock me out
for a little while," said he. "The swelling on my head is gradually
going down, and that little cut on the temple doesn't amount to much."
"Those men ought all to be put in prison!" burst out Fred.
"Possibly you are right, Fred. But you must remember that you are now in
a section of the country where living is rather rough. A new oil town
and a new mining camp are pretty much on the same level. You often have
to take the law into your own hands and fight your way through the best
you can. Later there will be regular law and order, and then matters
will run more smoothly."
Dick Rover did not mention the matter to the boys, but from that day on
he went armed, resolved to take no more chances should any of the oil
land swindlers attack him again.
Two more days passed, and during that time the boys visited a number of
localities in that vicinity, trying to catch sight of Nappy and Slugger,
and also Werner. But those three unworthies did not show themselves.
"They know we've got it in for them," declared Jack. "They'll keep in
hiding until they think this affair has blown over."
On the third day Dick Rover felt quite like himself, and he hired an
automobile to take him and the boys, as well as Nick Ogilvie, to the
Lorimer Spell claim. Somewhat to his surprise, he found Carson Davenport
on the land, along with Tate and Jackson and half a dozen other men.
More oil-well machinery had been brought up and dumped in a spot near
the brook.
"What's the meaning of this, Davenport?" questioned Jack's father
shortly.
"It means that I'm going to work on my own hook, Rover," answered
Davenport, and there was a sneer in his voice. "I've got tired of trying
to make a deal with you, and I've come to the conclusion that your claim
is no good."
"I think I understand you perfectly," answered Dick Rover, and looked at
the man so sharply that Davenport had to drop his eyes. "You think you
have everything your own way, eh?"
"Never mind what I think. If you've got any real claim on this property
you show the evidences. That little paper that Lorimer Spell wrote out
on the battlefield of France doesn't hold water with me. You've got to
show me the deeds, and all that sort of thing."
"A man can't show papers when he has been robbed of them," went on
Jack's father pointedly.
"Humph! So that's your latest story, is it, Rover? First when I asked
you for the papers you said they were in a safe deposit vault in Wichita
Falls."
"So they were. But now I have been robbed of them, and you know it."
"I know it? Say, Rover, are you going crazy? I don't know any such
thing," and now Davenport put on an assumption of anger.
"I say you do know it--you and your whole crowd!" retorted Dick Rover.
"This land is a tract said to be full of oil, and you want to do me out
of my rights." And now Jack's father appeared to warm up.
"Rover, I've had enough of your bluffing, and I won't stand for any more
of it!" cried Carson Davenport. "You may be able to put up a big front
with some folks, but it won't go with me. I claim that this land is
mine, and I won't pay any more attention to what you say until you
produce those precious papers that you have said so much about. And even
then I may not listen to you. My private opinion is that the army
authorities ought to take up your case and make an example of you," went
on the oil promoter, with more of a sneer than before.
"The army authorities?" questioned Dick Rover, puzzled.
"That's what I said. I've heard a thing or two about you. It was all
well enough for you to pull Spell in and get a medal for doing it. But
when that poor fool wrote out a so-called will leaving you everything he
possessed, I reckon he rather put his foot into it," finished Davenport
significantly.
Jack's father and the boys were, of course, astonished, and even
Davenport's companions showed that this was something they had not been
expecting. The men crowded around to find out what was coming next.
"Davenport, I'll have to ask you to explain yourself!" exclaimed Dick
Rover, and strode forward, his eyes flashing.
"Want me to explain myself, do you?" cried the oil promoter savagely.
"All right, then, I will. According to reports Lorimer Spell ran out
ahead of you in that fight, and then he was shot in the back. Do you
understand that--shot in the back! Well, who did it? Certainly not the
Germans. They were in front of him."
"Do you mean to insinuate that I or one of our other men shot Spell?"
demanded Dick Rover, and now his face was almost white.
"He had made a will in your favor--you were the only one to profit by
his death."
"You cur, you!" cried Dick Rover. And beside himself with righteous
anger, he sprang forward and planted a blow on Carson Davenport's chin
that made the oil well promoter stagger back and fall flat.
"Hi! Hi! None of that around here!" bellowed Jake Tate, and caught Dick
Rover by the arm.
"You get back there," was the quick reply. "This is none of your affair.
This man has accused me of something, and he is going to take it back."
"You let my father alone!" broke in Jack, and rushed toward Tate,
followed by Randy and Nick Ogilvie. Then the fellow fell back. Jackson
viewed the contest in silence.
By this time Carson Davenport was struggling to his feet. He was in a
terrible rage and came at Dick Rover blusteringly.
"What do you mean by hitting me that way, Rover?" he howled.
"You take back what you said, Davenport. If you don't I'll give you
another one!" exclaimed Jack's father.
"I'll take back nothing."
"All right, then--here goes!" And once more Dick Rover's fist shot out,
and again the oil well promoter measured his length on the ground.
This time as he arose he put his hand behind him in his hip pocket. But
before he could draw any weapon, if such was his intention, Dick Rover
was on him and had his arms pinioned.
"There'll be no shooting here, Davenport. You try it, and you'll get the
worst of it. Now, then, you take back what you said!" and Dick Rover
shoved his clenched fist under the other's nose.
Carson Davenport could bluster, but at heart he was more or less of a
coward. He tried to retreat, and as Jack's father followed him up he
mumbled some words about there being a mistake and that he had not meant
to say just what Jack's father had imagined.
"Poor Lorimer Spell was shot by the Huns," said Dick Rover, for the
benefit of the other men standing around. "He had gone on ahead of our
party, and then, finding out his mistake, he was in the act of turning
around to get back in line when the shot struck him that killed him. To
say that he was shot down by any of his own crowd is a wicked falsehood.
Half a dozen men of our command can prove every word of what I have
said."
"You'll rue the day you pitched into me, Rover," grumbled Davenport, but
took good care to keep out of reach.
"You brought it on yourself," retorted Jack's father. "And now, as for
this claim," he added, after a slight pause. "As all of my papers have
been stolen I presume I can do nothing, even though this land may be the
most valuable in oil in this vicinity. But I will watch the turn of
affairs, and if I get a chance to prove anything I'll do it."
"You show me your papers, and if they are all right, I'll see that you
get what is coming to you," mumbled Davenport. "But just the same, let
me repeat--I don't believe there are any papers. The whole thing was a
faked-up story to get me to give up my claim." Davenport was nursing his
bruised chin. "And don't forget that you knocked me down when you had no
right to do it," he added uglily.
"Are you going to sink a well here?"
"That's our business."
"What's the use of trying to hide it, anyhow?" put in Jake Tate. "Yes,
we're going to sink a well here just as soon as we can get our machinery
in working order."
"And we're going to do it with our own money. We're not asking any
assistance from you," added Jackson.
"All right, then, go ahead," said Dick Rover. "I have no more to say--at
least for the present." And then, motioning to the four boys and Nick
Ogilvie to follow him, he withdrew.