HOME AGAIN--CONCLUSION.
"Dan is gone!"
"Which way did he go?"
"I don't know."
"He ran up the shore, in that direction!" called out Dora, pointing
with her hand.
Leaving Arnold Baxter in the grasp of Fairwell and Ruff, Tom and Sam
hurried off.
But Dan Baxter had disappeared in a perfect wilderness of rocks and
bushes and could not be located.
"Never mind," said Tom; "let him go, if he wants to remain on this
lonely spot."
All were soon on board the sloop, and Tom and Sam told their tale, to
which Dora, as well as the others, listened with close attention.
"Then my mother is safe!" burst out the girl. "Thank Heaven for that!"
"She was safe when last we saw her," said Tom. "I guess the best thing
we can do will be to get back to the wreck of the _Wellington_
without delay."
"Yes! yes! take me to my mother at once. I have been hunting for her
ever since she disappeared."
"But how did you happen to come here?"
"I found out that Josiah Crabtree had hired the _Wellington_, and
day before yesterday we ran across a steamboat which had sighted the
schooner headed in this direction."
"How did he get her away in the first place?"
"We were stopping at a hotel in Canada and I went out to do some
necessary shopping. When I got back my mother was gone. She had
received a bogus note, written I presume by Crabtree, asking her to
come to me at once, as I had been taken sick in one of the stores. I
immediately hired a detective, Mr. Ruff here, and we tracked Mr.
Crabtree to the lake."
"Good for you, Dora,--a man couldn't have done better," cried Sam so
enthusiastically that Dora had to blush.
"But now I want to get to mother without further delay."
"Let us set sail at once, then," said Tom. "The distance to the wreck
is not over two miles."
Without delay the anchor was hoisted, the mainsail set, and the sloop
left the shore. She was a trim-built craft, and under a good breeze her
bow cut the shining waters of the lake like a knife.
The only one on the boat who was not in good humor was Arnold Baxter.
When he got the chance he called Tom Rover to him.
"Rover, what do you intend to do with me?" he asked.
"We intend to hand you over to the authorities."
"You are making a great mistake."
"I'll risk that."
"If you'll let me go I'll promise to turn over a new leaf, and, more
than that, I'll help your father to make a pile of money out of that
mine in Colorado."
"Your promises are not worth the breath they are uttered in, Arnold
Baxter. You belong in prison, and that is where you are going."
At this Baxter began to rave and utter words unfit to print. But Tom
soon stopped this.
"Keep a civil tongue in your head, or we'll gag you," he said, and then
Baxter relapsed into sullen silence.
The breeze was favorable, and it was not long before the sloop rounded
a point of the island and came in sight of the _Wellington_.
"Let us surprise old Crabtree," suggested Sam. "We can keep out of his
sight until the last moment."
Tom was willing, yet Dora demurred, wishing to get to her mother as
soon as possible. Yet, as they drew closer, the girl stepped behind the
cabin for a minute.
"A ship!" cried Peglace, who was on watch on deck. "A ship at last, and
coming to shore!"
He uttered the words in French, and they speedily brought to the deck
his companion and his companion's fat wife.
"A ship, sure enough," said the other Canadian, while his wife shed
tears of joy.
Josiah Crabtree had just been interviewing Mrs. Stanhope in the cabin.
He was trying again to hypnotize her, and she was trying to keep from
under the spell.
"A boat must be coming, by the cries," said the former teacher. "I will
go to the deck and investigate."
He ran up the companion way, and Mrs. Stanhope followed. The lady felt
weak and utterly discouraged.
"If I only had Dora with me!" she murmured to herself.
"Did you speak?" asked Crabtree, looking over his shoulder.
"Not to you," she answered coldly.
Soon Crabtree was at the stern. The sloop came closer, and a rope was
thrown to the _Wellington_ and made fast by the Canadians. The
smaller craft drew so little water that she did not ground, even when
lying at the larger ship's stern.
"Hullo!" began Josiah Crabtree, addressing Randy Fairwell. "This is
most fortunate."
"I see you are wrecked," returned Fairwell calmly.
"Exactly, sir--a very unfortunate affair truly. Will you rescue us?"
"Anybody else on board?"
"Yes, a lady to whom I am engaged to be married," and Crabtree smiled
blandly. "Will you come on board?"
"I guess I will," answered Fairwell. "Eh, Mr. Ruff?"
"Yes," answered the detective, and leaped on the deck of the wreck.
By this time Mrs. Stanhope was on deck also, gazing curiously at those
on the sloop.
"I believe this is Mr. Josiah Crabtree?" went on Ruff coldly.
"Eh? Why--er--you have the advantage of me!" stammered the former
teacher of Putnam Hall, falling back in dismay.
"Are you Josiah Crabtree or not?"
"I am; but--"
"Then consider yourself my prisoner, Mr. Crabtree."
"Your prisoner!"
"That is what I said."
"But why do you say I am arrested? Who are you?"
"You are arrested for plotting against the welfare of Mrs. Stanhope
there and Dora Stanhope, her daughter; also for forging Dora Stanhope's
name to a letter sent to the girl's mother."
"It is false. I--I--Oh!"
Josiah Crabtree staggered back, for Dora had run forward. In a second
more mother and daughter were in each other's arms. An affecting scene
followed. Josiah Crabtree turned a sickly green, and his knees smote
together.
"I--er--that is, we--the lady and myself--there is some mistake." He
tried to go on, but failed utterly.
"You fraud, you!" cried Tom, and came forward, followed by Sam. "Now,
Josiah Crabtree, we are on top, and we mean to stay there. Mr. Ruff,
you had better handcuff him."
"I will," returned the detective, and brought forth a pair of steel
"nippers."
"Handcuff me!" groaned Crabtree, "Oh, the disgrace! No! no!"
"You ought to have thought of the disgrace before," was Ruff's comment,
and the next minute the handcuffs were fast on the prisoner.
A shout was now heard from one of the Canadian sailors. He was pointing
to the north of the island, where a steam tug had just hove into sight.
The tug was coming on rapidly, and as she drew closer Tom and Sam made
out a youth standing on the cabin top, eagerly waving his hand to them.
"Dick!" cried both of the Rovers. "Dick, by all that is wonderful!"
It was indeed Dick and the _Rocket_, and soon the steam tug came
up to the stern of the sloop and made fast.
"Tom and Sam, and safe!" burst out Dick, and then his eyes fell upon
the Stanhopes. "Dora!" He shook hands and blushed deeply, and so did
the girl. "Why, I never expected this!"
"None of us did," answered Dora with a warm smile.
"And your mother, too!"
"It's like a fairy tale," put in Tom, "and I guess it's going to end
just as happily as fairy tales usually do."
It took some time for each to tell his story. When it came to Dick's
turn, he said the steam tug had done her best to follow up Captain
Langless and his schooner, but had failed because of the darkness.
"She's now out of sight," he concluded, "and there is no telling where
she is."
"Well, let him go," said Tom. "We have Arnold Baxter, and he is the
chief villain. I don't believe Captain Langless will ever bother us
again."
After a long conversation it was decided that all of the party should
return to the mainland in the steam tug and the sloop, the latter to be
towed by the former. Dick remained on the sloop with the Stanhopes,
while Josiah Crabtree was placed in the company of his fellow-criminal,
Arnold Baxter. With the party went the Canadian who was married, and
his wife, leaving the other Canadian to look after the wreck until his
partner should return with material with which the boat could be
patched up.
The run to the mainland was a pleasing one to the Rovers, and also to
Larry and faithful Aleck Pop. The negro was on a broad grin over the
safety of the brothers.
"Dem boys beat de nation," he said. "Nebber gits into trouble so deep
but wot da paddles out ag'in in short ordah; yes, sah!"
During the trip it was decided by the Stanhopes, on Dick's advice, to
prosecute Josiah Crabtree to the full extent of the law. Mrs. Stanhope
demurred somewhat to this, but Dora was firm, and when the case was
brought to trial Crabtree was sent to prison for two years.
The first thing the Rover boys did when on shore was to telegraph to
their father, telling him of their safety. This telegram caught Mr.
Rover just as he was about to arrange for sending the ten thousand
dollars to Arnold Baxter. He was overjoyed at the glad tidings, and
came on as far as Detroit to meet the whole party.
"My boys, how you must have suffered!" he said, as he shook one after
another by the hand. "In the future you must be more careful!"
Arnold Baxter wished to see Anderson Rover, hoping thereby to influence
the latter in his behalf, but Mr. Rover refused to grant the interview,
and on the day following Arnold Baxter was sent back to the prison in
New York State, there to begin his long term of imprisonment all over
again.
There was much speculation concerning Dan Baxter, and when the Rovers
went back to the island on the steam tug,--to obtain what had been
discovered in the cave,--they asked the Canadian on the wreck if he had
seen the youth.
"Yes, I see him," was the answer. "But he is gone now. He went off in a
small boat that torched here yesterday."
"It's just as well," said Tom. "We didn't want to see the fellow starve
here."
But at the cave which Dick and the others had discovered he changed his
tune, for there were many signs that Dan Baxter had visited the
locality. The money which had been lying on the dust-covered table was
gone, likewise the map and the dagger.
"We are out that much," said Dick to Larry and Peterson.
"The boxes and casks are not disturbed," replied the old lumberman.
"He couldn't carry those," said Larry. "Perhaps he thinks to come back
for these later."
"Then we'll fool him," replied Dick.
All of the goods were transferred to the steam tug and taken to
Detroit, where, after remaining unclaimed for some time, they were
sold, the sale netting the Rovers and their friends several thousand
dollars.
One odd-shaped box Dick kept as a souvenir. It had been a money casket
and was lined with brass. Little did the youth dream of all the strange
adventures into which that casket was to lead him and his brothers.
What those adventures were will be told in another volume of this
series to be entitled, "THE ROVER BOYS IN THE MOUNTAINS; or, A HUNT FOR
FUN AND FORTUNE."
The home-coming of the three boys was celebrated in grand style, not
alone by the Covers, but by many of their friends, who flocked in from
far and near to see them. Captain Putnam was there, along with many of
their old schoolfellows.
"It's good to be home once more," said Sam.
"Especially with so many friends around you," added Tom.
"And after escaping from so many perils," came from Dick.
And here let us leave them, wishing them well, both for the present and
the future.
THE END.