MR. WESTMORE BRINGS NEWS
“Well, this is a little better anyway!”
It was Fred who spoke, about five minutes later, after the boys had
found shelter in an old barn along the roadside. The barn had belonged
to a farmhouse that had been burnt down some years before and never
been rebuilt, consequently the structure was deserted.
“And I am glad to rest!” panted Bart, as he dropped heavily on an old
bench that chanced to be handy. His weight was too much for the thing
and down it went with a crash, causing the big youth to sprawl on the
floor.
“Hello, beef is coming down!” was Matt’s comment, and this added to the
laughter that had started. “Come here, Bart, and I’ll help you up!”
continued the fun-loving boy.
“No, I’ll sit here, now I am down,” was Bart’s answer, and he squatted
on some straw that was handy, and here Fred joined him. The others
found seats near by.
It was only a sudden summer shower, with no thunder or lightning, and
the boys waited as patiently as they could for it to pass over.
“We are better off than Si and those others in the motor boat,” was
Harry’s comment. “They had no top to the craft and if they were far out
on the lake they must have been drenched to the skin.”
“Huh! a drenching won’t hurt Si and Ike,” grumbled Fred. “Maybe it will
cool ’em off a bit.”
“And they need that,” added Link. “Those two bullies make me sick!”
The boys remained in the old barn for the better part of half an hour.
Then the rain commenced to let up and the clouds passed by. Soon the
sun was shining as brightly as ever, causing the hanging drops on the
leaves to sparkle like diamonds.
“All over, forward march!” shouted Matt. “Boom! boom! boom, boom,
boom!” he added, imitating a bass drum. Then he took a big step out
into the roadway, slipped in the mud, and had all he could do to keep
himself from falling.
“Hurrah, see Matt the gymnast!” cried Bart, who had not forgotten the
mention of “beef.” “Why don’t you do that in some circus, Mr. Flip
Flop?” And at this sally a laugh went up.
“Not very good walking,” said Fred, as he came forth from the barn.
“Wish I had a pair of rubbers.”
“Don’t you mind, Bart will carry the little boy,” said Matt, sweetly.
“Carry nobody!” grumbled the big youth. “Say, but this walking is
beastly, isn’t it?”
“Might go barefooted,” suggested the carpenter’s son. But none of the
lads cared to do this. Instead they walked in the grass as much as
possible. Once in a while they would brush against the bushes and get a
dash of water; but there were no further complaints.
“What are you fellows going to do to-morrow?” asked Link, as he was
about to leave his chums.
“Harry and I are going to keep store for father, while he goes to
Cresco with Mr. Rush,” answered Joe.
“And I am going to keep store, too,” added the stout youth.
“All right; maybe I’ll drop in some time during the day,” said the
carpenter’s son, and the others said the same.
Mr. Westmore and Mr. Rush had several matters of business to attend
to on Monday morning, so they did not get away on their trip to Joel
Runnell’s cottage until nearly eleven o’clock. They went in a buggy,
Mr. Rush driving a fast mare of which he was somewhat proud. They did
not expect to return until some time in the evening.
Each of the merchants had a regular clerk to assist him, but both
wanted their sons to learn the business, and so made the boys help out
whenever necessary.
Joe went to the store first, and Harry came to relieve him at noon. The
younger Westmore boy had been down to the lake front.
“Some little excitement down there,” said Harry, as he hung up his cap.
“Mr. Voup and Mr. Boardman are down at the docks looking for Si and Ike
and the motor boat.”
“Didn’t they come in yesterday afternoon?” questioned his brother.
“It seems not.”
“Where were they bound?”
“Nobody seems to know. They say Si and Ike went out directly after
dinner yesterday and ran across the lake. They got those two men
aboard, and that’s the last seen of them or the boat.”
“Why, we saw them, Harry.”
“Yes, I told Mr. Voup that. He wanted to know just where and at what
time, and I told him at four o’clock off Perry’s Point. He wanted to
know if there was anything the matter with the motor boat and I said I
thought not. I told him they were headed up the lake at the time.”
“Maybe they had an accident,” put in the clerk who was present. “But
more than likely Si and Ike went off with those two men for a good
time. Those two fellows may have been squeezing Si and Ike for all they
were worth.”
“Did Mr. Voup know the men?” asked Joe.
“No, he had never even seen them. He said Si hadn’t mentioned them when
he was home. Mr. Boardman didn’t know them, either.”
“Well, it certainly is strange where they went with the motor boat,”
mused the elder Westmore youth; and then he hurried home to dinner,
leaving his brother to take his place.
In the afternoon half a dozen of the other boys came around to see them
and also went over to visit Fred. All had heard about the disappearance
of Si and Ike and the motor boat, and all wondered what it could mean.
Nothing had been heard of the missing boys, and nothing was known
concerning the men who had accompanied them.
“It may be all right, but it looks queer to me,” said Paul Shale. “I’ve
got half a notion Si and Ike are up to some of their shady work--maybe
playing some trick on somebody against whom they have a grudge.”
“If they are they had better look out that they don’t get their fingers
burnt,” said Walter Bannister.
Joe and Harry were quite busy during the afternoon, so the other boys
did not remain long at the store. Fred was likewise busy, and Link went
over to help him and keep him company. When the proper time came the
stores were locked up and the boys went home.
“Dad and Mr. Rush are making quite a trip of it,” remarked Harry, when
the clock had struck ten and his parent had not yet returned.
“Maybe they had to talk the matter over with Mr. Akers first and then
notify a lawyer, or the police of Cresco,” said Joe. “And they may have
had quite a time of it convincing Mr. Akers of what was best to do.
He’s a queer man.”
“Boys, you had better go to bed,” said their mother. “It won’t do
any good to stay up. You can hear what your father has to say in the
morning.”
“I’d like to hear to-night,” answered Harry; nevertheless, when the
clock pointed to half-past ten the brothers retired. They undressed
slowly and looked out of the window several times, but all to no
purpose. Then the clock struck eleven and both got into bed and
presently dropped off into the land of dreams.
It was Joe who was the first to awaken and Harry soon followed.
“Is dad home?” the younger lad asked quickly.
“Yes, I can hear him talking to ma,” was the reply, and then both boys
hurried into their clothing and downstairs. Their parents had come down
to the dining-room but a few minutes previously.
“Well, Dad, how did you make out?” questioned Harry, eagerly.
“Isn’t Andrew Akers a queer man?” asked Joe.
“He certainly is queer,” responded Mr. Westmore, with a smile that the
boys did not understand.
“What did he say?” went on Harry, impatiently.
“He didn’t say a word.”
“What!” cried both boys.
“Not a single word.”
“He has disappeared,” said Mrs. Westmore, who could not bear to see the
boys teased. “Tell them all about it, Horace. Can’t you see they are
dying to know?”
“Well, then, boys, Mr. Andrew Akers has disappeared, and where to I
haven’t the least idea, and neither has Mr. Rush nor Joel Runnell. When
we got there we found the house locked up and we didn’t know what to
make of it. We looked in the windows and pounded on the doors, and
came to the conclusion that nobody was inside. Then we hung around for
an hour, wondering what we had better do next. At last Runnell came
along. He was highly excited and glad enough to see us. He said that
he had been away for a few hours on business and had come home to find
the door wide open and Andrew Akers gone, bag and baggage. He had been
hunting all over for the man, but with no success. He hadn’t the least
idea how he had gotten away or where he had gone to.”
The two boys listened in open-mouthed wonder to this recital. For a
moment neither of them spoke. Then of a sudden each looked at the other.
“Mason and Chase----” began Joe.
“And that automobile----” added Harry.
“Do you think they would carry him off?”
“Perhaps--if they would be mean enough to rob him.”
“What have you learned new about those two men?” questioned the father,
quickly.
“We saw them yesterday afternoon, in an automobile, headed towards
Brookside,” answered Joe, and told some of the particulars.
“Hum!” mused Mr. Westmore. “It is possible that they went to Cresco,
and they may have called on Mr. Akers. But I doubt if they would dare
to carry him off against his will. They may have coaxed him to go with
them.”
“Didn’t he leave any word behind?” asked Joe.
“Not a line of any kind.”
“Hadn’t he paid Runnell for his services?” asked Harry.
“Yes, he gave Runnell fifty dollars three days ago. Got the money out
of his black box, so Joel said.”
“That rather looks as if he was planning to leave.”
“But was he well enough?” asked Joe. “I thought he was quite sick.”
“He may not have been as badly off as you thought,” said the father.
“Well, anyway, he had disappeared, so of course we could do nothing. We
made a long hunt with Runnell, but got no clew. Not a person living in
that vicinity had seen the man, nor had they seen anybody else around
the cottage.”
“They hadn’t seen Mr. Mason, or Mr. Chase?” asked Harry.
“Not that I know of.”
“This certainly is a queer proceeding,” mused Joe. “It knocks us out
all around; doesn’t it? You can’t proceed against Mason and Chase now;
can you, Dad?”
“I don’t see how I can. I haven’t any proof against them. We suspect a
good deal, but in court you must have absolute proof. Mr. Rush agreed
with me that we ought to notify the authorities that Mr. Akers was
missing, and so we left word with the Cresco police, and also with the
authorities at Brookside. At Cresco they said they would send word to
Springfield and to Bralham, where Mr. Akers used to board. If he is
around anywhere we ought to find out about it soon.”
“I don’t believe he left Runnell’s place of his own accord,” said
Harry, with a firm shake of his head. “I believe he was either lured
away, or carried off.”
“It almost looks like it,” returned Joe.
As the family ate breakfast Mr. Westmore gave some more particulars
of the trip to Cresco. Then the boys hurried over to Fred’s home, to
listen to what Mr. Rush might have to say.
“All we can do is to wait,” said the hardware merchant. “The
authorities have been notified, now let them act.”
“We’d like to do something for Mr. Akers,” said Joe. “He was very kind
to us, to give us the flying machine. If he is in trouble, I’d like to
help him.”
“And so would I,” came from Fred and Harry.