THE CAPITALIST DOESN'T LIKE THE SITUATION
Someone was dashing through the woods straight at Jack Benson.
Almost immediately there came the yell, in baffled rage:
"Confound you, Don Melville! I'll settle with you for this!"
"That's Mr. Farnum's voice!" throbbed the real Jack, all agog with
wonder.
Immediately there dashed between the trees a panting boy in a uniform
identically like Benson's.
"That you, Hal?" shouted the real Jack.
"Yes," came a hoarse answer.
"What's wrong?"
"Run to Farnum--quick!"
"You're a liar, whoever you are!" retorted Jack, putting himself in
motion after the fugitive. "You're not Hal Hastings--nor yet Eph
Somers!"
The race was a spirited one. The fugitive ran splendidly, gamely, but
Jack Benson's wind had had a long rest, and now he was in the pink of
condition for sprinting.
So, ere three hundred feet had been covered, the young submarine boy
made a flying leap that carried him onto the shoulders of the fugitive
down went both to earth.
"Now, hold quiet, will you, or shall I have to pummel your face out of
any human likeness?" demanded Jack.
"Oh, Jack! Jack Benson! That you?" shouted the wondering voice of
Jacob Farnum.
"Yes, and I've got some fellow who's masquerading in _our_ uniform!" yelled
Captain Jack.
Jacob Farnum had succeeded in hurling Don Melville away from him, and
now the all but exhausted boatbuilder came through the forest with
lumbering steps.
All of a sudden the downed fugitive began to fight, and Jack was forced
to be strenuous.
"Here, let me take him. I'll quiet him," promised Jacob Farnum, grimly.
That gentleman was in a state of mental maze over the sight of what at
first appeared to be two Jack Bensons fighting each other; Yet the
incident gave him evidence that there was something unusual in this
night's appearances. Without any difficulty, now, he separated the
real from the false Jack, and promptly laid hands on the latter.
Don Melville's face was now a sickly white, but he felt that he had to
act on the instant.
"Here, let that fellow go," he ordered, darting up, his eyes blazing.
"Get back there! Stand away! Hands off!" roared the submarine boy,
facing young Melville and sending him back by a blow in the chest.
"Let that fellow go!" insisted Don, angrily. "If you try to hold him,
I won't be responsible for what I do!"
"I can tell you what you'll do, if you try to mix in at all where Mr.
Farnum is busy," retorted Jack, facing his foe with a savage grin.
Nevertheless, Don, espying a stick of wood lying on the ground, snatched
it up, then tried to dart around Captain Jack in order to get at Mr.
Farnum, who was having a rather one-sided struggle with the recent
fugitive.
But Jack stopped Don--stopped him all of a sudden, by rushing at him
and forcing him back up against a tree trunk. Whack! thump! It was
no time for delicacy. Young Benson struck Don two hard blows in the
face, next wrenching the stick away from him.
"The ground's good enough for you--full length!" snapped Jack;
wrathfully. Leaping at the Melville heir once more, he bore that
angered youth to the ground. Had not Don been winded by so much running
he would not have been so easy to handle.
"Now, you stay there," commanded Jack, testily. "I believe you know a
good deal about things that have happened to me to-night, and we've got
to get it all straightened out."
"I've got this one, Jack," called Mr. Farnum, gleefully.
The arrival of the real Jack Benson on the scene, in contrast with the
sham one, had opened the boatbuilder's eyes. He could not fathom, yet,
what it all meant, but he was certain that his hitherto trusted young
captain would be able to explain it all satisfactorily.
The young stranger in blue now lay on his back, while Jacob Farnum sat
astride of him. The boatbuilder felt carefully over the outside of the
clothing of his captive, until his hands encountered the feel of paper.
"I guess this is what I'm looking for," muttered the "Pollard's" builder,
thrusting his hand into a pocket and pulling out an envelope. "This
looks like the envelope Don Melville handed you, back there up the road.
Let us see how much you got for your rascality to-night."
Striking a match, Mr. Farnum drew some banknotes from the envelope,
counting them.
"Twenty dollars, for all that dirty work," sneered the boatbuilder.
"Young man, you sell yourself too cheaply. It ought to be worth more
than twenty dollars, just to have to be found with the Melvilles."
Hearing that, Don gnashed his teeth. Like many another rascal, Don
wanted people to think well of him.
"Jack," called out the boatbuilder, "see if young Melville has a long,
white envelope anywhere about him. In the inside coat pocket, if I
remember rightly."
"Don't you dare!" challenged young Melville. But Jack glanced down at
him with contempt, retorting:
"I follow only Mr. Farnum's orders. People who follow your orders take
too big a risk of having to go to jail."
In Don's inner coat pocket rested a long, white envelope. Jack fished
it out with a cry of triumph.
"Got it, Jack?" hailed the boatbuilder.
"Yes, sir."
"Then hold on to that envelope until we have a good chance to look it
over. It's supposed to contain plans, or some sort of information, that
you were supposed to be selling the Melvilles to-night."
"What?" gasped Captain Jack.
"Oh, there's a lot to the affair, and some of it needs unraveling, but
we'll get to the bottom of it yet."
"I should say we'd have to!"
"This young hoodlum that I'm holding down is dressed in a uniform just
like yours."
"I noticed that, sir."
"He's your figure, and complexion, and doesn't look a whole lot unlike
you, Jack. I was fooled to-night, from the distance, when he
impersonated you. But, now I have a closer look, this young fellow
looks more like a thug, and he's slightly cross-eyed, too."
"I hear voices, so they must be over this way," sounded the tones of
Broughton Emerson, between the trees. Then he and George Melville came
upon the scene.
The elder Melville stared incredulously, with a startled gasp, when he
got close enough to make out what had happened.
"Benson," blurted the capitalist, "how dare you? This is an outrage,
you young puppy! Don, get up out of that undignified position. Get
up this instant!"
"He will," said Jack, dryly, "as soon as he can get away. At present
he's held down by force of circumstances."
"Get off my son, you impudent young upstart!" insisted George Melville,
aghast at the ignoring of his first order. "Don, get up this instant."
"Mr. Farnum gives all the orders here, so far as I'm concerned, Mr.
Melville," announced the submarine boy.
"Oh, let him up," said Farnum, dryly. "We know just where to find Don
Melville any time that we need him."
Jack got up willingly enough, then. But Don, as soon as he had recovered
some of his crumpled dignity, held out one hand imperiously.
"Give me that envelope you just took from my pocket," he commanded.
"Oh, will I?" rejoined Benson. "Ask Mr. Farnum for it."
"Hold onto that envelope, Jack," commanded the boatbuilder.
Jack Benson thrust it into his inner coat pocket, next firmly buttoning
the front of his coat. Don made a move forward, as though to prevent,
but drew back sullenly when he caught the flash of the submarine
captain's steady eyes.
"Did young Benson take anything from your pockets?" demanded George
Melville, stiffly.
"Yes, that envelope that he has just buttoned up in his own coat," said
Don, sulkily.
"Return that to my son, at once," insisted the capitalist.
Jack, this time, did not even honor the command so far as to admit having
heard it.
Broughton Emerson, deeply puzzled, had left group to go over to Mr.
Farnum and the strange boy in blue.
"Jack!" called the boatbuilder, and Benson ran to him.
"Do you think you can fasten onto this youth, and prevent his getting
away from us?" asked Jacob Farnum.
"I'm rather sure of it," nodded Benson.
"Then keep your eye on the fellow, Jack. He's got to go to jail. He's
been engaged in some conspiracy against us, and I'm going to fathom it
all, and have the fellow sent up for years and years at hard labor."
The fellow whom Jack was now holding heard this with a start and a
shiver.
"You hear that, Don Melville?" he gasped. "Remember, you promised to see
me through safely, if any trouble happened. You've got to keep your
word."
"Hold your tongue if you think I'm going to do anything for you,"
growled Don.
"If you don't stand by me," threatened the prisoner, "I'll make things
warm for you--and you know I can do it!"
Don paled, visibly, under that threat.
"Ho, ho!" laughed Jacob Farnum. "When thieves fall out--"
"Mr. Farnum, sir," thundered the elder Melville, stalking over to where
the boatbuilder stood, "do you realize you're talking about my son?"
"Well, why not?" asked Mr. Farnum, coolly. "It's becoming pretty
evident that he isn't a bit too good to be talked about."
"What does all this hubbub and outrage mean, anyway?" cried George
Melville.
"It looks to me," rejoined Farnum, coolly, "as though your son would
have the extensive task of informing us."
"Come on, father; let's be getting away from these people," proposed
Don. "But what are you going to do with that young man?"
"In the name of the Commonwealth," replied the boatbuilder, "I've placed
this young man under arrest, and I'm going to deliver him up to the
authorities. He has been engaged in a conspiracy, and must suffer for
his full share in the affair. If he confesses, and implicates others,
they'll have to stand the consequences."
Again Don lost color, though now he was careful not to betray himself
any further. But he hesitated, afraid to go away, lest Jack's prisoner
be led into betraying him.
"Start your young man towards the road, Jack," directed Mr. Farnum, who
now had the envelopes taken from Don and the stranger.
Jack started, holding to the arm of his late impersonator.
"Mr. Farnum, may I have a word with you?" asked George Melville, as the
others walked along.
"Mr. Emerson," urged the boatbuilder, "will you walk on the other side
of Captain Benson's prisoner? I want to make sure that no attempt at
rescue is made."
Broughton Emerson readily nodded his agreement, and stepped up ahead.
As for Don, he fell in behind this group, while Messrs. Melville and
Farnum walked still more to the rear.
"Now, what does this whole affair mean?" demanded George Melville.
"As far as I understand it," answered Jack's employer, stiffly, "it looks
as though your son and yourself had framed up a scene, to be witnessed
in poor light, at night, in which my young captain would appear to be
hound enough to sell out Pollard's business secrets, and mine."
"I can assure you," said the capitalist, coldly, "that I had nothing to
do with any deception."
"Then your son, without your knowledge, fixed up to-night's affair."
"You seem bound to fasten something upon my son."
"Well, Mr. Melville, can't you yourself understand that everything
appears to point to Don as the prime mover in all this business?"
"I do not agree with you, sir."
"Well, perhaps that's hardly to be expected." laughed Jacob Farnum.
"However, since the real Jack Benson wasn't in that little picture so
neatly framed for inspection, let us get up closer to him, and ask him
to tell us just what did happen."
So Jack, as the party turned into the road, related the story of the
trap that had been sprung on him, and how he had escaped from it.
At the conclusion of the narrative, Mr. Farnum turned around to say
to Don:
"Young man, if you have engineered the whole of to-night's plan, I must
compliment you on your originality and ingenuity. Nothing but accident
prevented you from having a complete triumph."
"Be careful, sir, what you say about my son!" warned George Melville,
pompous in his anger.
"As it disturbs you," smiled Farnum, "I won't say any more about it.
The whole business will keep."
The elder Melville, however, pulled Mr. Farnum by the arm until he had
him well to the rear of the others.
"Now, Farnum," murmured the capitalist, in a conciliatory voice, "I am
ready to admit that it begins to look a bit as though my son may
possibly have been a bit reckless. I shall want the truth of it all
proved. But, if I am satisfied that Don has been wholly in the wrong
in anything that he has done, believe me, I shall be most ready to make
the matter right with you."
"Right with me?" repeated the boatbuilder, in amazement "What do you
mean by that?"
"Why, I mean, of course, that, if I am convinced that Don has been
headstrong and over-zealous--"
"Mr. Melville, listen to me, and understand me fully. It looks as
though to-night's business had been engineered on purpose to dissuade
Mr. Emerson from investing money in my enterprises. If that is true,
it is a matter of conspiracy, and I cannot hold out any hope to you that
I shall allow anyone to escape just punishment."
"Do you threaten my son?" demanded the elder Melville, a menacing frown
clouding his face.
"Of course not unless he can be shown to be undoubtedly guilty. For
your sake and his I hope that won't be the case. And now, sir, good
night."
They were nearing the streets of the village, and, Soon after the two
Melvilles fell behind, Mr. Farnum found a constable who took the
stranger in the blue uniform in charge.
Mr. Emerson excused himself, going to his own stopping place, but Mr.
Farnum and Jack continued with the officer until they had seen the
young stranger locked up.
Then Mr. Farnum hurriedly telephoned to the house of a lawyer, rousing
that gentleman, and sending him to the lock-up to interview the prisoner.
Jacob Farnum had already returned to the young stranger the twenty
dollars found in the envelope in his pocket. The boatbuilder had also
handed to Don Melville the envelope taken from him, after having
ascertained that it contained only blank paper.
As Mr. Farnum and Captain Jack again turned into the street they
encountered David Pollard, rushing along and looking much excited.
"Oh, here you are," burst from the inventor. "I've been looking for you
everywhere, since you were not at home. Two things of the utmost
importance have happened."
"Some other things, also, of which I do not believe you yet know,"
smiled the boatbuilder. "But let's have your news, first, Dave."
"A thief, dressed in a uniform very much like Jack's, and of the same
size and similar build to our captain, broke into my room and stole the
drawings for the automatic closer for the torpedo tube," hastened on the
inventor, almost breathlessly. "I fired a shot at him, from my window,
but he escaped."
"We know the fellow, I guess," nodded Jacob Farnum, "and we know he
disposed of some blank paper to-night. But I did not know your drawings
had been stolen."
"Say," broke in Jack Benson, thoughtfully, "do you remember the two
holes in the right side of the fellow's coat?"
"Yes, I do," rejoined the boatbuilder.
"Probably he's the same fellow. A bullet, passing through his coat,
might have made those two holes without touching his body."
"Jove!" muttered Farnum. "Yes; that's so. I believe your guess is
wholly right, Jack."
"Tell me about that," begged Mr. Pollard.
"One thing at a time, please," urged the boatbuilder. "Now, if that
young rascal had the drawings, did he turn them over to Don Melville
before the arranged meeting that I saw? For our prisoner had no such
papers aboard him when I searched him."
"That will have to be solved," muttered Jack, seriously. "We can't
afford to have those secret drawings in the possession of the rival
submarine boat builders."
"But what about your other news, Dave?" interposed Mr. Farnum.
"This telegram!" burst, eagerly, from the inventer, producing a yellow
envelope. "It was addressed to you, but in your absence I opened it."
While Jack struck a match, the boatbuilder read with feverish interest
showing in his eyes.
"Oh, but this is great news!" he gasped. "We've finally got the Navy
Department awake. This dispatch inquires how soon we can be ready to
run the 'Pollard' through an exhaustive trial trip with a board of
Naval officers aboard. Do you grasp it, Jack? If the trial succeeds
we'll sell our first boat to the Government and be on the high road to
success and fortune! Oh, this is the grandest news! It overshadows
everything else!"
It truly did.