STARTLING NEWS
“Hurrah for Uncle Sam!”
“How long before we could start, do you think, Fred?”
“A trip to the ocean would just suit me!”
Such were the remarks from the three other Rover boys after they had
listened to what Fred had to tell about Captain Corning’s project and
what his parent might do concerning it.
“Say, Fred, do we come in on this?” questioned Gif.
“I don’t think I could go,” added Spouter sorrowfully. “I’m booked for
a trip to the coast of Maine. And, incidentally, Gif, I thought you
were going with me.”
“I’m sorry, Gif, but I’m afraid we’d have to leave you behind,”
answered the youngest Rover boy. “It’s too bad, but when my father
first talked about it, he spoke of taking me and nobody else. But when
he said that, I told him he’d have to take my cousins or I wouldn’t
go.”
“Gee, Fred, it was all right of you to do that!” put in Randy
admiringly.
“Well, if I can’t go, I can’t, and that’s all there is to it,” remarked
Gif. “And maybe Spouter and I will have a real good time up on the
Maine coast. Anyway, I hope so.”
“How soon do you think we’ll find out for certain about this trip?”
questioned Andy.
“Oh, I expect to know very soon,” answered his cousin. “The fact is,
I’ve been holding off expecting every day either to get a letter from
my dad or have him come up to the farm in person. That’s why I didn’t
want to say anything before this. I wanted to be sure of what I was
doing. Even as it is, the whole thing may fall through――and if it does,
please don’t blame me.”
“We won’t blame you, Fred. You can be sure of that,” returned Jack. “We
know you’ll be just as much disappointed as any of us. Just the same,
I shouldn’t want Uncle Sam to put a lot of money in this expedition if
the whole thing was a fake. It will cost a pile of dollars to put such
a thing through.”
“I don’t think I’d go into that if I was your father until I had gone
over this Captain Corning’s information very carefully,” remarked
Spouter. “There are thousands of people all over this country who think
they have special information concerning lost treasure ships and lost
mines and lost everything else, and nine out of ten of these things
are fakes pure and simple. I remember reading in an old magazine how
miles and miles of coast line on Long Island and on Cape Cod had been
dug up by people looking for pirates’ gold, and how they had even gone
up into Newfoundland and down on the Brazil coast and down in Florida,
not to say anything of the West Indies, and hunted over miles and miles
of all sorts of territory. And then down in Central America and off
the coast of Brazil and off the coast of Africa, too, there have been
expeditions――――”
“Hurrah, Spouter is giving us a lecture on Pirates’ Treasures!” burst
in Jack gayly. “Why didn’t you hand it in as a theme when we were at
good old Colby, Spouter? You might have gotten one hundred and one per
cent. on it.”
“Oh, say! you make me forget what I was talking about,” was the reply.
“Just the same, as I said before, this treasure game is a good deal of
a fake.”
“Well, anyway, we’ll have a dandy outing if we start looking for that
lost _Margarita_,” came from Fred.
“We mustn’t forget that our folks went on a treasure hunt once before,”
announced Jack. “They went down to an island in the West Indies
looking for a lost treasure that belonged to my mother and her family,”
he concluded, referring to an affair which has been related in detail
in the volume entitled, “The Rover Boys on Treasure Isle; or, The
Strange Cruise of the Steam Yacht.”
The boys continued to talk about the treasure until it was time to
turn in. Fred, however, could give but few more details and he and his
cousins hoped that Fred’s father would soon announce what he proposed
to do.
“I’d like to go on a trip like that before I settle down in business,”
said Jack, and his youngest cousin agreed with him.
In spite of the witch-hazel and the liniment he used that night, Andy
felt stiff and lame the next morning and was quite content to stay
around the lodge for all of that day. Fred and Randy remained with him,
Jack going off with Gif and Spouter to do some hunting and fishing.
“I wish I had the necessary materials at hand so that I could develop
those pictures I snapped,” said Randy when the others were gone. “Then
I’d find out whether I’d got a picture of that auto or not.”
“I hope you did get a picture, and that it proves to be just as clear
as the one Ruth took of the horse race,” returned Andy. “I’d like to
get that fellow’s number and then go and report him.”
“I don’t think it was the car run by Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell,”
said Fred.
“No, it was a different machine. But that doesn’t say those fellows
might not have been in it.”
While Andy took it easy in a hammock under the trees his brother and
Fred put the lodge in order, for the boys knew that the owners of the
place would expect them to do this.
“We won’t be able to stay here much longer,” said Fred. “Because I know
that in a few days at the most Gif and Spouter will want to be on their
way.”
“Yes, and we’ll want to hear from Uncle Sam now that we know what is on
the carpet,” returned Randy.
The other boys tramped quite a few miles that day, and while they had
little success in hunting they fared better when it came to fishing.
They had seen two foxes and had opened fire on the animals, but without
success. They had, however, brought down several good-sized squirrels
and been able to pull up eight fair-sized perch and quite a few
catfish, as well as several other fish which they could not name.
“The fish suit me,” remarked Jack, as they were trudging back to the
lodge. “I don’t care much for squirrels, but a fresh fish freshly
fried suits me right down to the ground.”
“Better say down to the bottom of your stomach, Jack,” returned Gif,
and at this the three boys had to laugh.
That night it looked as if it would storm again, the sky getting very
dark and the wind rising rapidly.
“Gee, I hope the wind doesn’t blow some of the trees down,” cried
Randy, as the wind increased in velocity, sending the leaves flying in
all directions. “One might hit the building and knock it flat.”
“Oh, don’t be so cheerful!” cried Gif. “It’s bad enough to hear that
wind whistle without your trying to scare us to death.”
The wind continued to blow strongly for several hours. There was,
however, little rain, and presently, about midnight, the storm seemed
to pass to the northward and all became quiet once more. Then the boys
went to bed and soon all of them were sound asleep.
The next morning the others were glad to learn that Andy felt much
better. He was, of course, still sore and somewhat stiff, but he
managed to walk around fairly well and announced that he was willing to
do whatever the others suggested.
“Well, I don’t suggest hunting,” said Spouter. “There is next to
nothing to bring down at this season of the year. Of course we can go
fishing again; but why not go over to the nearest end of the lake and
have a good swim? We can laze around in the sun and have lots of fun.”
This proposition met with instant approval, and the boys got ready to
start out immediately after breakfast had been eaten and the lodge
tidied up.
“I’ll tell you what we can do,” suggested Randy. “Why not have a
swimming race? I don’t mean a little two-cent affair, but a real race,
say, across the lake and back.”
“No such race for me,” declared Andy. “You fellows can race and I’ll be
the judge and the stake holder. What are the stakes going to be? Why
not make it a quart of ice-cream? Then while you’re doing the swimming
I’ll place the ice-cream in a safe spot.”
“Yes, where none of us will be able to get at it even if we win it,”
laughed Gif. “If there is any stake put up we’ll have to make you give
a bond so that we’ll be sure the fellow who wins it gets it,” and then
there was a laugh.
The boys were about ready to start when Jack sat down to fix one of his
shoes. As he was doing this Fred gave a sudden exclamation.
“Listen! Don’t I hear somebody calling us?”
All listened, and presently from a distance they heard a cry.
“Hello, Jack Rover! Hello, Andy! Randy! Fred! Where are you?” and this
cry was repeated several times.
“It’s somebody after us!” cried Randy, and then yelled as loudly as he
could:
“This way! This way for the Rovers! Hello there! Who are you?”
“I’m Pete Apgar!” came the distant reply. “Where are you?”
“We’re up here at the hunting lodge!” called Jack. “This way, Pete!”
and he continued to call until the person he was addressing came into
view.
“Pete must have important news of some kind or else he wouldn’t come up
here this time of day,” said Fred. “Why, he must have started from the
farm last night!”
Pete Apgar was a young man who worked by the day in and around Dexter’s
Corners. Quite a little of his time was put in at Valley Brook Farm and
he had already spoken for a steady place on the Stevenson estate when
that should be ready for occupancy.
“Gosh all hemlock!” panted Pete Apgar, as he came up and sank down on a
bench and began to fan himself with the straw hat he wore. “I thought
I was never going to get here. Some hike, I’ll say, from Valley Brook
Farm to this place! I’ve been on the go ever since ten o’clock last
night.”
“What brought you?” questioned Jack quickly. “No bad news, I hope?”
“I’m sorry to say it is bad news, Jack,” was Apgar’s reply.
“Somebody ill at the farm, or is it worse?” put in Randy.
“No, everybody’s all right on the farm, although old Grandpop Rover
ain’t as good as he might be. But this news is from New York――from your
folks down there. There’s been a robbery.”
“A robbery!” came simultaneously from all the young fellows.
“That’s it,” and Pete Apgar continued to fan himself. He was almost out
of breath and gladly took a cup of water which Gif considerately got
for him.
“What was robbed――our houses?” questioned Fred.
“No, it wasn’t your houses. It was down in your fathers’ place of
business in Wall Street. A big hold-up of some kind.”
“A hold-up in the offices in Wall Street!” gasped Jack, and then he
added quickly: “Was anybody shot?”
“I don’t know none of the particulars,” replied the farmhand. “A
telegram came to your Uncle Randolph that the offices in Wall Street
had been robbed and that he was to let you fellows know at once. So
they sent me up here pellmell to tell you. I got a ride in Fenny’s
flivver as far as the bridge road. That was as far as he could take me,
and I hoofed it the rest of the way. But I did stop at Bill Jandle’s
place early this morning and asked him to be in readiness with his
flivver providing I could find you fellows and you wanted to ride home
from there.”
“I’m glad you did that, Pete,” answered Jack quickly. “It will save us
a long tramp, and we can make time by riding even if we have to go away
around by the bridge route instead of by the ford.”
“You didn’t get any more of the particulars about the robbery?”
questioned Andy.
“No. There wasn’t any particulars. When I left the farm your Uncle
Randolph was trying to get your folks on the long distance ’phone. But
the storm the other day had knocked out some of the wires and they
wasn’t repaired yet; so he couldn’t get anything. He said he would
send Jack Ness down to the railroad station to try to get a message
through by telegraph, but he was afraid the operator would be gone
for the night, and in that case he’d not be able to do anything until
this morning. Your uncle was all upset, and so was your aunt and your
grandfather, not knowing how bad things might be.”
“Well, they must be pretty bad, or otherwise our folks wouldn’t send
for us,” said Jack.
“I guess you’re right,” added Randy. “For all we know, the Wall Street
offices may have been cleaned out completely in this hold-up.”