MR. MATSON IS ALARMED
Joe Matson did not know what to do. He wanted to rush away from where he
was concealed, get home as quickly as possible, and tell his father what
he had overheard. While Mr. Matson's name had not been mentioned,
knowing, as Joe did, that his parent was engaged on some patents, seeing
Mr. Benjamin, manager of the Harvester works, and having heard the
conversation between him and Mr. Holdney, the lad was almost certain
that some danger threatened his father.
"And yet I can't get away from here until they're well out of sight,"
reasoned Joe. "If I go now they'll see or hear me, and they'll be bound
to suspect something. Yet I'd like to warn dad as soon as I can. There's
no telling when they may put up some job against him."
But Joe could only crouch down there and wait.
At length he could stand it no longer. He reasoned that the men must be
far enough away by this time to make it safe for him to emerge.
"They're on the road to Riverside," thought Joe, "and I may run into
them, but if I see them I can slip into the fields and go around. Mr.
Benjamin doesn't know me, for he's hardly ever noticed me when I've been
to the Harvester works to see dad. But Mr. Holdney might remember me. I
can't take any chances."
Cautiously he emerged from the bushes, and looked as far down the road
as he could. There was no one in sight, and he started off. A little
distance farther on, the road made a sharp turn and, just at the angle
stood an old barn which hid the rest of the highway from sight until one
was right at the turn. It was a dangerous place for vehicles, but the
owner of the barn had refused to set it back.
No sooner had Joe turned this corner than he came full upon Mr. Benjamin
and Mr. Holdney standing just around the barn, apparently in deep
conversation. At the sight of Joe they looked up quickly, and Mr.
Benjamin exclaimed:
"Ha! Perhaps this lad can tell us. We want to hire a carriage. Do you
know any one around here who would let us take one for a short time?"
Joe, who had started back at the unexpected sight of the two men, took
courage on hearing this, and realizing that he had not yet been
recognized.
"I don't know any one around here," he said. "I'm pretty much of a
stranger myself, but have you tried at this farmhouse?" and he pointed
toward the one where the owner of the barn lived.
"Oh, we don't want a farm horse!" exclaimed Mr. Holdney. "We want
something that has some speed." Then, as he looked more fully at Joe he
exclaimed: "Haven't I seen you somewhere before, my lad? I'm sure I
have!"
He took a step toward our hero, and Joe's heart gave a flutter. He was
almost certain that Mr. Holdney would recognize him and then the next
step would be to ask where he had been. The men might at once suspect
that he had at least come past the place where they had been talking in
secret, and they might even suspect that he had listened to them. Joe
was in a predicament.
"I'm sure I've met you somewhere before," went on Mr. Holdney, in his
quick, nervous tones. "Do you live around here?"
"Yes," answered Joe vaguely. "But I don't know where you could get a
fast horse unless it's in town--in Riverside."
He was about to pass on, hoping the men would not further bother him,
when Mr. Holdney, coming a step nearer, said with great firmness:
"I'm sure I've seen you before. What's your name?"
Like a flash a way out of it came to Joe, and that without telling an
untruth.
"I play on the Silver Stars," he said quickly. "You may have seen me at
some of the games," which was perfectly possible.
"That's it!" exclaimed Mr. Holdney. "I knew it was somewhere. Now----"
"I'm going into Riverside," went on Joe quickly. "If you like I'll stop
at the livery stable and tell them to send out a rig for you if you want
to wait here for it."
"The very thing!" exclaimed Mr. Benjamin. "Let him do that, Rufus.
Here's a quarter to pay for your trouble, my lad."
"No, thank you!" exclaimed Joe with a laugh. "I'm glad to do you a
favor."
"All right," assented Mr. Benjamin. "If you'll send out a two-seated
carriage and a man to drive it we'll be obliged to you. Then we can
drive over and see Duncan," he added to Mr. Holdney. "We'll fix this
thing all up now."
"Yes, and if it's my father you're trying to 'fix,'" mused Joe, "I'll do
my best to put a stop to it. Now, it's up to me to hurry home," and
telling the men that he would do the errand for them, the lad hastened
off down the road, leaving the two conspirators in earnest conversation.
The livery stable keeper readily agreed to send out the carriage, and
then Joe lost no time in hurrying to his house.
"Has father come home yet?" he asked of his mother, for sometimes Mr.
Matson came from the harvester works earlier than the regular stopping
time.
"No," answered Mrs. Matson, "why, what is the matter, Joe? Has anything
happened?" for she noticed by his face that something out of the usual
had occurred.
"Oh, I don't know," he answered slowly. He was revolving in his mind
whether or not he ought to tell his mother. Then, as he recollected that
his father always consulted her on business matters, he decided that he
would relate his experience.
"Mother," he said, "isn't father interested in some sort of a patent
about corn?"
"About corn? Oh, I know what you mean. Yes, he is working on an
improvement to a corn reaper and binder. It is a machine partly owned by
the harvester people, but he expects to make considerable money by
perfecting the machine. It is very crude now, and doesn't do good work."
"And if he does perfect it, and some one gets the patents away from
him, he _won't_ make the money!" exclaimed Joe.
"Joe, what do you mean?" cried his mother in alarm. "I am sure something
has happened. What is it?"
"It hasn't happened yet, but it may any time," answered the lad, and
then he told of what he had overheard, and his ideas of what was
pending.
"That's why I wanted to see father in a hurry, to warn him," he
concluded.
"Joe, I believe you're right!" exclaimed Mrs. Matson. "Your father ought
to be told at once. I don't know what he can do--if anything--to prevent
these men getting ahead of him. Oh, it's too bad! I know he always
suspected Mr. Benjamin of not being strictly honest, but Mr. Holdney
used to be his friend and on several occasions has loaned your father
money. Oh, this is too bad, but perhaps it isn't too late. If I were you
I'd go down toward the harvester works and you may meet father coming
home. Then you can tell him all about it, and he may want to go back and
get some of his papers, or parts of the machine, from his office so
those men can't take them."
"That's the very thing, mother!" cried Joe. "You ought to have been a
man--or a boy and a baseball player! You can think so quickly. That
reminds me; I had quite an experience to-day. Just say 'apple sauce' to
me when I get back, and I'll tell you all about it."
"It can't be possible!" exclaimed Mr. Matson, when Joe, having met him
just outside the harvester works, told him of what he had heard. "It
hardly seems possible that they would do such a thing. But I'm glad you
told me, Joe."
"Do you think they meant you, dad? I didn't hear them mention your
name."
"Of course they meant me!" declared Mr. Matson. "The warning came just
in time, too, for only to-day I finished an important part of the
machinery and the pattern of it is in my office now. I must go back and
get it. Wait here for me."
As Joe stood at the outer gate of the big harvester plant he heard the
sound of a carriage approaching, and turning around he saw Mr. Benjamin
and Mr. Holdney coming along in the rig Joe had had sent out to them
only a little while before.
"I thought better to drive back here first, and go see Duncan later,"
Mr. Benjamin was saying, and then both men caught sight of our hero.