TWO OLD ENEMIES
"Josiah Crabtree!" came simultaneously from Dick and Sam Rover.
"Yes," returned Tom.
"How can he be here, in this out-of-the-way place?" demanded Sam.
"You must be mistaken, Tom," came from the eldest Rover boy. "Old
Crabtree must be around Cedarville or in Ithaca. He would have no call
to come to a place like this."
"Did you say Josiah Crabtree?" questioned Peter Marley, curiously. All
had come to a halt on their horses.
"Yes," returned Tom quickly. "Do you know him?"
"I used to know him--fact is, he once stopped at my place to git a
ride--when he was a-visitin' thet old mill."
"Then he visits the mill!" exclaimed Dick. "Tom, you must have been
right."
"But why does he come here?" questioned Sam.
"Why as near as I know, some relative o' his'n used to have an interest
in the lumber company as run the mill," replied the farmer. "It was a
man named Foxwell. He's dead now. Maybe he left his share o' the place
to this man Crabtree. He was a teacher, wasn't he?"
"He was, years ago. Since then he has been a jailbird," answered Tom.
"A jailbird!"
"Yes, he was in jail for a number of years--and since he has been out he
has been trying his best to make trouble for us and for some of our
friends," went on Tom. "Come on, let's go after him, instead of
talking," he added, as he dismounted.
"That's the talk!" cried Sam. "The biplane can wait."
Dick was as willing as his brothers to go after the former teacher of
Putnam Hall, and leaving the farmer to take care of the horses, all
three ran up to the door of the old mill. It was unlocked, and one of
the hinges was broken, and it was an easy matter for them to push their
way into the building.
"Do you think Tad Sobber is with old Crabtree?" asked Sam, in a low
voice.
"It may be--since they were together when the girls saw them," returned
Dick.
"We ought to have armed ourselves," put in Tom. The boys had no weapons
of any kind.
"Here are some old barrel staves," said Tom. "They are better than
nothing." And he picked up a stave and his brothers followed suit.
With caution the three Rover boys advanced through the old mill, which,
because of the closed doors and dirty windows, was a gloomy place in
spite of the brightness of the day outside. All listened intently, but
not a sound reached their ears, excepting Mr. Marley's voice as he
talked to the restless horses.
"Supposing I call to him?" suggested Dick.
"It can't do any harm," answered Sam.
"Hello, Mr. Crabtree!" sang out Tom, without waiting for his brother.
"Where are you? Why don't you show yourself?"
All waited after this call. But no reply came back, and then Dick and
Sam called.
"He's a bit bashful," was Tom's grinning comment. "Wants to be hauled
out by the coattails, I guess. Come on, we'll soon locate him," and he
started forward.
"Be careful, Tom!" warned his elder brother. "He may set a trap for you!
You know he and Sobber are not to be trusted."
"I've got my eyes open," answered the fun-loving Rover sturdily.
With the barrel staves in hand, the three Rover boys advanced further
and further into the old mill, going from one room to another.
Occasionally they stumbled over bits of lumber and piles of sawdust, for
when the place had been shut down no attempt had been made to clean up.
Even some of the machinery had been left and this was now so rusted that
it was practically unfit for use.
"Say, Mr. Crabtree, why don't you show yourself?" called out Dick. "Are
you afraid?"
"You get out of here!" came the unexpected answer, from a small
toolroom, the door to which was split but tightly closed. "You Rovers
have no right on this property!"
The boys recognized the harsh and dictatorial voice of Josiah
Crabtree,--less pleasant now than it ever had been. They saw the former
teacher glaring at them from the split in the toolroom door.
"Mr. Crabtree, come out here and let us talk to you," said Dick, quietly
but firmly.
"I don't want to talk to you--I want you to leave these premises,"
snarled the man.
"Why should we leave?" asked Tom.
"Because this is my property."
"Your property?" cried Sam. "How so?"
"It was left to me by a distant relative. I won't have you on the
place."
"Mr. Crabtree, do you know that we can have you arrested?" said Dick,
sharply.
"Arrested? What for?"
"For the abduction of Mrs. Stanhope."
"I didn't abduct her--she went along of her own free will--I can prove
it."
"You know that statement is false. You carried her off against her
will--and did what you could to hypnotize her into marrying you. Mr.
Crabtree, you are a villain, and you ought to be returned to the prison
from which you came."
"Don't you dare to talk to me like that! Don't you dare!" fairly
shrieked Josiah Crabtree. "I know my rights, and some day I'll have the
law on you boys! You are responsible for my being sent to prison, and
but for you Mrs. Stanhope would have married me long ago. Now I want you
to leave these premises, and don't you dare to come back."
"Is Tad Sobber with you?" asked Tom.
"I am not here to answer questions, Tom Rover. I want to leave, and at
once."
"Mr. Crabtree, you listen to me," said Dick, stepping closer to the
crack in the door. "We are not afraid of you, and we want you and Tad
Sobber to know it. Were it not for the unpleasant publicity for Mrs.
Stanhope and her daughter, we'd have you in the lock-up inside of
twenty-four hours. We understand that you and Sobber have been
threatening the Stanhopes and the Lanings again, and also threatening
us. Now these threats have got to stop, and you have got to behave
yourself. If you don't behave yourself we are going to make it our
business to see that you are arrested, and we'll do our level best to
have you placed behind the bars for a long term of years."
"I--I--will--er----" stammered the former teacher of Putnam Hall. He did
not know how to proceed.
"Ah, don't you get scared!" came in a low voice from inside the
toolroom. "You know what the Rovers are."
"It must be Tad Sobber!" cried Tom. "Sobber, if you are in there why
don't you show yourself? Are you scared?"
"Of course he is scared," put in Sam.
"I'm not scared!" roared the bullying voice of the youth who had claimed
the fortune from Treasure Isle. "I am not scared and you know it."
"So you are really there, Sobber," put in Dick. "I thought as much.
Well, you heard what I said to Crabtree. It applies to you as well."
"Bah, Dick Rover, you can't scare me!" returned Tad Sobber savagely.
"Just now you think you are on top. But wait, that's all. That treasure
belongs to me and I mean to have it. And I mean to square up for the way
you have treated me, too."
"Are you two going to settle down here?" asked Sam, just for something
to say.
"That is none of your business," answered Josiah Crabtree. "Now I want
you to leave."
"Sobber, what has become of Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur?" asked
Dick, wishing to know something of those former good-for-nothing
students of Brill College.
"Never you mind what has become of them," answered Sobber. "But don't
think you have seen the last of them, Dick Rover. They haven't forgotten
how you treated them on Chesoque Island and elsewhere, and they mean to
even up that score."
"Are they here with you?"
"No. But I'm going to keep in touch with them, and some day we---- But
never mind now. Just you wait, that's all!" finished Tad Sobber,
meaningly.
"You'll try to play us foul,--just as you tried in the past," said
Dick. "Very well, I'll remember that, Sobber. And you remember what I
told you. The next time there is trouble we'll fight it out to the
bitter end."
There was a moment of silence.
"I want you to go away," said Josiah Crabtree, and there was just a
trace of nervousness in his tones. Evidently Dick's firm words had had
some effect.
"We are going," answered Dick. "Both of you remember what I said." And
then he motioned to his brothers; and all three left the old mill.
"Well, did ye find the feller ye was after?" queried Peter Marley, as
the boys came out to where he stood with the horses.
"We did," answered Dick, and nudged his brothers, to keep them quiet.
"It's Josiah Crabtree all right. And we had quite a talk with him."
"Wot's he going to do here?"
"He says it is his property--left to him by a distant relative. He
ordered us away."
"Must have been Foxwell left him the place. Is he going to start the
mill up ag'in?"
"He didn't say."
"If he's a jailbird I'll hate to see him in these parts," went on the
farmer soberly.
"Well, it won't hurt you to keep an eye on him, Mr. Marley," answered
Dick, and then, struck with a sudden idea, he continued: "And if you
see or hear anything wrong about him, will you do us the favor to let us
know at once, over the telephone, or otherwise? I'll pay you for the
calls."
"Sure I'll let you know--if I hear anything."
"I might as well tell you that he is down on us and down on some of our
friends, and he and a young fellow with him named Tad Sobber may try to
play us foul in some way. So, if you hear of anything strange, let us
know by all means."
"You can depend on it, I will," replied Peter Marley.
"And now to see if that really was the biplane!" cried Tom, when the
party was once more on horseback. "Let us try to forget old Crabtree and
Sobber. One trouble at a time is enough. If that was the flying machine,
I hope she isn't damaged much," he added, wistfully, for he had hoped to
get a good deal of sport out of sailing the _Dartaway_.
"Well, if that was the biplane, she must have landed in the river, and
that would break the shock some," said Sam, hopefully.
"Yes, especially if she came down on a slant," added Dick. "Maybe she
struck the water and scaled along like a clamshell."
Along the river they proceeded for quite a distance and then came to
the spot that the farmer said was the ford.
"Not so very shallow either," was Dick's comment. "Mr. Marley, are you
sure of the footing?"
"Yes, I've been across any number of times," was the answer. "I'll lead
the way. Be careful, fer the rocks is slippery an' if a hoss goes down
he might give ye a nasty tumble."
And then Peter Marley urged his steed into the river and one by one the
Rover boys followed him.