OFF FOR THE WEST
While the four Rover boys consulted with one clerk in regard to Pullman
accommodations, first to Chicago and from there to Maporah, Joe Brooks
spoke to another clerk alongside regarding accommodations to the first
named city only. The stranger seemed to hold the attention of the
clerk, asking numerous questions. But his eyes and ears were wide open
to take in all that the Rovers were doing.
“I can’t say that I like that train particularly,” Andy heard Brooks
remark to the second clerk after their own business was concluded. “I
traveled on it once and the accommodations were punk. I think I’ll
ask one of my friends what train he took. He said he had the finest
accommodations he had ever struck.”
With the railroad tickets and the sleeping car coupons in an envelope
in his pocket, Jack and his cousins prepared to leave the agency. As
they did this, Joe Brooks turned to shake hands, smiling as he did so.
“I’m very glad to have met you,” he said. “I’ll mention it to Fatty
Hendry when I see him this fall. I suppose you know Fatty has gone up
into Canada.”
“Yes, I know that,” answered Jack.
“Hope you’ll have a nice trip when you do go to Chicago,” put in Fred,
who felt that he ought to be nice to any friend of Fatty’s, who had
always been a good chum.
“Oh, it’s only a business trip. I sha’n’t be in Chicago very long. I’ve
got to come back to Buffalo and then go to Toronto,” answered Brooks,
and then, bowing and smiling, he walked off and disappeared into the
crowd.
“It’s the funniest thing, but I can’t remember that fellow at all,”
remarked Jack.
“I remember the fellow who was at the football game――the chap with the
stiff neck,” said Andy. “But, somehow, this fellow doesn’t look exactly
like he did. That fellow had more of a round face.”
“Well, he seemed to know us all right enough――and he certainly must
know Fatty and Ned Lowe,” remarked Randy.
All of the boys were in need of new caps, and they became so interested
in picking out the new headgear that soon Joe Brooks was practically
forgotten.
But the Rover boys would have been tremendously interested had
they seen the immediate future actions of the fellow who had so
unceremoniously introduced himself to them. Walking only a few blocks,
Brooks entered a telegraph office and wrote out the following message:
“JOHN CARSON,
“Alberg Hotel,
“Boston.
“Four boys and Uncle Tom to Chicago morning of thirtieth. Two
days in Chicago, then on to Gold Hill Falls, Maporah. Not
recognized.
“JOE BROOKS.”
“There! I guess that will make Davenport get busy,” murmured the young
man as he handed the message in. Then he paid for it and hurried again
out into the Broadway crowd.
With their mothers and the girls gone, the boys found it rather lonely
at the houses, and upon Fred’s suggestion they had the chauffeur take
them down in the car to their fathers’ offices on Wall Street.
“I think I’m going to get into the game with dad some day,” remarked
Jack, as they watched what was going on. “Financial dealings seem to
suit me exactly.”
“I think I’d rather go into some profession,” said Fred. “Law, or
something like that.”
“Nothing like that for me!” burst out Andy. “I’d rather be a sailor or
some kind of a traveler.”
“Now you’re talking, Andy!” returned his twin. “When we get old enough
let’s go around the world.”
“Oh, I’d like a trip around the world myself,” Fred put in quickly.
“Well, if you fellows went, you couldn’t leave me behind,” remarked
Jack. “But I guess we’re a long way from going around the world just
yet. I think we can be thankful to get such trips as we’re having.”
Since the time the offices had first been opened the business of The
Rover Company had steadily increased. The company now employed eight
clerks, and the quarters had recently been doubled in size. Dick, Tom
and Sam had each an office to himself, and there were likewise offices
for the bookkeepers and stenographers. In front there was a handsome
reception room where customers might be received.
“Mighty spiffy, I’ll say,” declared Fred, as they walked around. “I
don’t believe there are any nicer offices in the whole city.”
All the heads of the company were busy just then, but presently the
lads managed to see the twins’ father and told him of the railroad
accommodations they had purchased.
“Very good,” declared Tom Rover. “Just what we need. I was afraid
we might be disappointed trying to get accommodations at such short
notice.”
To the boys, so impatient to start on the trip, the time from then to
Monday passed rather slowly. They attended a couple of moving picture
shows and took a ride up to Bronx Park, where they viewed the large
collection of animals, and went swimming at one of the city’s large
natatoriums. On Saturday afternoon they attended a ball game at the
Polo Grounds, rooting strenuously for the Giants, who were playing
one of the teams from the West. On Sunday they went to church in the
morning and in the afternoon the twins did what they could to help
their father in getting ready for the trip, since Tom had little time
to spare away from his desk in Wall Street.
“Have you told anybody what train you were going to take, or anything
like that?” questioned Tom Rover, when the last of the packing had been
done.
“No, we haven’t told anybody that,” answered Randy. Neither he nor the
other boys suspected that the stranger who had introduced himself as
Joe Brooks had been spying on them.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that,” answered Tom Rover. “Of course, it might
not make any difference; but, on the other hand, there is no use in
taking chances.”
At last came the hour for departure. Dick Rover and his brother Sam saw
the crowd off at the Pennsylvania Station.
“Have the best time you can,” said Dick to his son. “And don’t forget
to write.”
“And you take care of yourself, Dad, and don’t work too hard,” answered
Jack. “Take a day off now and then――it will do you good.”
“If you hear anything from that Carson Davenport, let me know at once,”
went on Dick to Tom.
“I sure will!” answered the father of the twins. “And if you hear
anything, you must let us know, too.”
“We will,” put in Sam Rover. And then it was almost time for the train
to depart, and the five travelers clambered aboard.
The boys had reserved two whole sections, so there was plenty of room
for everybody and for the hand baggage. They were soon out of the
tunnel and flying across the Jersey meadows on the first stage of their
trip westward.
“Uncle Tom, you promised to tell us the particulars of what was taking
you to the West,” remarked Fred, who was curious to know the details.
“It’s rather a long story, Fred,” answered his uncle. “But I can give
you a few of the main facts if you’d like to hear them.”
All were more than anxious, and as the train sped onward across New
Jersey and into Pennsylvania they all crowded into one section around
Tom Rover to hear what he might have to tell them.
“I made my first investment in the Rolling Thunder mine about two years
ago,” began the father of the twins. “It was recommended to me by an
old gold miner we met out West years ago, a very reliable fellow. I put
twenty-five thousand dollars in the venture, and then followed it with
another twenty-five thousand dollars. Six months ago I invested a third
twenty-five thousand dollars, making a total of seventy-five thousand
dollars.”
“Gee, that’s quite a sum of money!” murmured Andy.
“Yes, it is. And that’s why I am so anxious to get out and see just
what is going on,” said his father. “When I made my first investment
the mine was doing very well, and it continued to do well after I
made the second investment. Then came something of a break, and the
management of the mine changed hands. I was told that an assessment
was in order, and as it looked all right to me I put up the third
twenty-five thousand as I just remarked. Now there seems to be another
break and something or other has gone wrong, although just what it is I
cannot imagine.”
“How did you find out that matters were going wrong? Did they stop
paying dividends?” questioned Jack.
“No, they’ve not stopped paying dividends. But I am of the opinion
that the dividends are being paid out of the surplus and not out of
earnings, as I have a right to expect. There is an old miner out there,
a fellow named Lew Billings, a man I know well. Billings has sent me
three messages urging me to come on and make an investigation. In his
last message he said he didn’t think it would do any good to send an
agent or a lawyer――that I had better come myself, that there were some
things he wanted to explain to me personally.”
“That looks as though there might be some crooked work there, doesn’t
it?” questioned Jack.
“I’m afraid so. Lew Billings is an old-timer and strictly honest, and
he wouldn’t send such messages as he has unless he was confident that
something was wrong. He wanted me to hurry, and that is why I am trying
to get out there as soon as possible.”
“But you’re going to stop off in Chicago!” broke in Randy.
“I’m doing that, Son, because two other men who are interested in that
mine live in Chicago and I want to interview both of them, if I can get
hold of them. It is just possible that they may have gone on to Maporah
ahead of me.”
“Are those two men your friends or do you think they are working
against you?” questioned Fred.
“I hardly know what to think, Fred. I want to have a talk with them
first, then I’ll know how they stand. If they are friendly, well and
good. But if they are on the other side, so to speak, then I’ll have to
fight my battle alone,” answered Tom Rover.
“I certainly hope those men prove friendly to you,” said Randy. “It
will make matters so much easier. It’s hard to fight a battle like that
all alone, I guess.”
“Do you know anybody at the mine outside of this Lew Billings?” asked
Andy.
“Not a soul, Son. They are all strangers to me. There were half a dozen
men I knew well when I made my first investment. But when the change
came those men either withdrew or were forced out. If they were there
now I wouldn’t have much trouble. But as it is――well, I suppose I’ll
have to take things as they come,” and Tom Rover heaved something of a
sigh. Evidently the trouble at the Rolling Thunder mine was causing him
a good deal of worry.