A NEW ACQUAINTANCE
The mention of Carson Davenport’s name made all the boys look serious.
“Has that fellow made another demand?” questioned Jack quickly.
“Not directly,” answered his father. “But I have heard in an indirect
way, through a detective working for one of the local agencies, that he
is watching us very carefully. He has been seen in the vicinity of our
offices several times, and you have seen him twice in the vicinity of
Colby Hall and Clearwater Hall. That’s enough for me to realize that
the scoundrel means business.”
“You forgot to mention one thing, Dick,” came from Fred’s father.
“Another one of the detectives from that agency saw Davenport in this
vicinity less than three weeks ago.”
“What do you mean? Here at the houses?” questioned Randy.
“Yes. He was out on the Drive, skulking up and down looking at all the
doors and windows. And he asked one of the tradesmen who lived here,
evidently to make sure that he had the right place.”
“Why don’t they arrest him?” questioned Andy impatiently.
“That’s what we’re going to do as soon as we can get any real evidence
against him,” answered his Uncle Dick. “I’d like to catch him
red-handed at something.”
“I’ve got a scheme!” exclaimed Randy. “Jack, you’d be the fellow to put
it through because you’re Uncle Dick’s son and it’s Uncle Dick that
Davenport is sore on.”
“What’s the idea?” questioned his cousin.
“Lay a trap for Davenport by placing yourself in such a position
that he can get at you. Then, when he thinks he’s got you, let the
detectives close in on him and make him a prisoner.”
“No, no! Nothing like that!” came from Dick Rover. “Davenport is too
dangerous a fellow. He might get away with his scheme, and Jack would
suffer. You can’t imagine how vindictive that rascal is. Why, when he
appeared at the offices and made his demand for that money he acted
like the most cold-blooded villain you can imagine. Sometimes I wonder
if the loss of his money down there in the oil fields hasn’t turned his
brain.”
“In that case we certainly had better look out,” answered Fred. “Why,
for all we know, he might try to set fire to the houses or something of
the sort.”
“No, I don’t think he’ll try anything like that. He is out for money,
and to burn down these houses wouldn’t give him any. Of course, he
might threaten to burn the places down, but that wouldn’t get him
anything, anyway, because we have the places insured, and it would not
be our loss even though it might place us in personal peril and cause
us great inconvenience.”
“What do you really think he’ll try to do, Uncle Dick?” asked Andy. And
now for once the fun-loving Rover boy was really sober.
“I think he’ll work his scheme in one of two ways,” answered Dick
Rover. “He’ll either try to get at me in some business way――by
threatening The Rover Company with some tremendous loss unless we come
across as he wants me to――or otherwise he’ll work his scheme either
through the girls or their mothers or through you boys.”
“Do you think he might try to carry some of us off?” asked Fred bluntly.
“Didn’t it look like it when he tried to get Martha and Mary into the
auto?” questioned Sam Rover.
“And what about that invitation my wife got that she paid no attention
to?” put in Tom Rover.
“What was that?” queried several of the boys.
“You know your Aunt Nellie is quite interested in basket work. This
was an invitation to attend an exhibition of such work to be given by
some Indians at a place uptown. Your Aunt Nellie was urged to come by
all means, and to bring her sisters-in-law with her, and the letter was
signed in the name of one of her friends. She did not go because her
foot happened to hurt her. Later, we found that the signature on the
invitation was forged, and a detective found out that the exhibition of
basket work was a fake. The whole thing was gotten up to get your Aunt
Nellie and her sister and Aunt Dora to a rather out-of-the-way place.
What might have happened if they had gone there, heaven only knows,”
and Tom Rover shook his head ominously.
This revelation was a surprise to the four boys, and they hardly knew
what to say concerning it. It looked as if there had been a slick
attempt made to get the mother of the twins, and possibly the mothers
of the others, into the clutches of Carson Davenport.
“I would like to lay my hands on that rascal if he tried to do anything
to my mother!” cried Jack, his eyes flashing. “I would like to hammer
the daylights out of him!”
“I guess we’d all like to do that,” came from Fred.
“Maybe we’d better stay at home instead of going on any trip,” said
Randy. “We might be needed in case Davenport tried anything on the
girls or mother or the others.”
“No. We have talked the matter over, and we have made another
arrangement,” said Dick Rover. He walked to the door, looked out into
the room beyond, and then closed the door carefully. Then he walked to
the windows, to see that no one might be outside listening.
“I’m beginning to think we have to be very careful,” he went on in a
lower tone of voice. “For all we know there may be a spy in the house.
We have two new servants, you know; and while I think they are all
right, we cannot afford at this stage of the game to take any chances.”
“The idea is this,” said Tom Rover, as his older brother paused.
“You boys are to go out West with me, keeping the matter as quiet as
possible. We won’t even let any one know the exact time we’re going to
start. When we go Uncle Dick and Uncle Sam will look after the girls
and their mothers and your Aunt Nellie.”
“Will they stay here?” asked Fred rather anxiously.
“No. We have already arranged for a trip. They are going down the
coast on a private yacht owned by Stanley Browne.”
“Oh, you mean the gentleman who is a cousin of Colonel Colby and who
was your chum at Brill College!” interrupted Jack.
“That’s the one. I communicated with Colonel Colby, and when he was in
New York last he brought in Mr. Browne whom I had not seen for a long
time. Mr. Browne is taking the trip for his health along with his wife
and his daughter, and they were very glad that the girls and their
mothers should accompany them. They will also take Ruth along if her
folks are willing. No one will know the destination of the steam yacht,
so I think they will be safe until Davenport is rounded up.”
“Say, this is certainly interesting!” was Andy’s comment. “I don’t like
the idea of running away from such a fellow as Davenport. I’d rather go
after him.”
“We’d do that in a minute, Andy, if it wasn’t for the girls and your
mother and your aunts. But as it is, we feel that we can’t afford
to take the chance. Davenport is a dangerous character, and we have
learned that he was mixed up in a number of shady transactions in the
West before he landed in the oil fields. He isn’t above doing desperate
things when forced into a corner. And it’s true that he and Tate and
Jackson fixed up their differences before they got out of prison. And
while Tate and Jackson may not have the brains that Davenport has,
still they are fellows with plenty of backbone to put through any
nefarious scheme.”
After this there was a consultation lasting the best part of an hour.
The boys could plainly see that their fathers would have gone after
Davenport and his pals without hesitation were it not that they were
afraid something would be done to injure the other members of the Rover
families. They learned that a local detective agency had been engaged
to follow up Davenport and his pals, but that so far little headway had
been made, showing that the rascal was keeping well under cover.
It was decided the next day that Tom Rover and the four boys should
start on their Western trip the following Monday. In the meantime
their mothers and the girls, including Ruth, who obtained permission
to go along, got ready for the trip on the steam yacht and departed on
Wednesday. Without much ado all of the others went down to the steam
yacht which lay in the North River and saw them off on the trip.
“Hope you have a good time,” said Jack, “and no mishaps.”
“You take care of yourself,” returned Ruth. Then all in the party waved
their hands until the steam yacht was lost to view down the river.
Tom Rover was busy with his brothers fixing up business matters
previous to his departure for the West, and he left it to the boys to
buy the necessary railroad tickets, including Pullman accommodations.
The father of the twins wished to stay in Chicago for two days, and the
passage westward was to be arranged accordingly.
Having made so many trips before, the boys knew exactly what they
wanted to take along on the present outing, so it did not take them
long to get their things together. Then, with little else to do, they
all set out that afternoon to purchase the railroad accommodations
desired. They left the house in a bunch, going in one of the family
automobiles. The ticket office was down on Broadway, and it did not
take them long to reach that place.
As they left the house they did not notice that they were being watched
by a young man on the other side of Riverside Drive. This young man
followed the car to the nearest corner, and then summoned a taxicab
that was passing, leaped in, and followed them.
“You can wait here for us, Peter,” said Jack to the family chauffeur.
“I don’t think we’ll be very long,” and thereupon he and his cousins
started to enter the ticket agency.
As the four Rovers crossed the pavement in the crowd a young man
suddenly stepped up and confronted them.
“Hello!” he exclaimed cordially. “Am I mistaken, or is this Jack Rover?”
“I’m Jack Rover, all right enough,” answered the young major.
“And this is Fred, isn’t it?” went on the stranger, smiling at the
youngest member of the crowd.
“Yes, I’m Fred Rover,” was the reply. “But――but I’m afraid you’ve got
the best of me,” Fred stammered. He thought the fellow’s face looked a
bit familiar, but he could not place him.
“Why, I’m Joe Brooks,” said the stranger. “Don’t you remember? Fatty
Hendry introduced us one day when you were over at Haven Point――the day
of the big football game last year. I was over there with Fatty and a
fellow named Ned Lowe, a great singer.”
“Are you the fellow who had the stiff neck and was wearing a silk
neckerchief?” questioned Randy.
“Now you’ve got my number,” answered Joe Brooks. “What are you fellows
doing down here? I thought you were up at the military academy?”
“School has closed. And, anyway, we have graduated,” answered Jack.
He was trying vainly to recall the stranger. The fellow’s face looked
familiar, but he could not remember having ever spoken to him.
“Out for a day’s fun, I suppose,” said Brooks easily. He acted as if he
was in no hurry to leave the Rovers. “How was Fatty the last you saw of
him?”
“Fine as silk,” answered Andy. “Taken on a few pounds more,” and he
grinned. He rather liked the looks of the stranger.
“We’re going to get some railroad tickets,” added Fred, and he nodded
toward the agency.
“Why, that is just where I was going!” exclaimed Joe Brooks. “I want to
get accommodations to Chicago.”
“Well, we’re going farther than that,” said Randy, and thereupon all
entered the ticket agency.