REAL FRIENDS
The conference in Tom Rover’s library lasted until well past midnight.
There were present not only the Rovers, but a number of other business
men, and all sorts of plans for continuing business at the offices in
Wall Street were thrashed out.
Several of the outsiders were liberal with their advice, but when it
came to real assistance Dick Rover and his brothers quickly realized
that they would have to depend almost entirely on themselves for
whatever was done.
The boys were not wanted at this conference, and so withdrew to the
library in Jack’s home. Here the four held a discussion fully as
animated as that going on next door.
“Dad admits that things look mighty black,” said Randy. “But he
cautioned Andy and myself not to say too much before mother, because
she’s worried to death as it is.”
“And that’s just what dad told me to be careful of,” put in Fred. “I
never saw my mother look worse! Why, you’d think somebody in the
family had died!”
“Well, we’ve got to admit that it is serious――the most serious thing
that ever happened to us as far as our fortunes are concerned,”
returned Jack. “This hold-up may wipe out The Rover Company entirely.
The company has obligations totaling three hundred thousand dollars and
all of these have got to be met inside of six weeks. Of course, they
may get an extension of time from the banks and their other creditors.
But unless the missing securities are recovered it isn’t likely that
those extensions will be for long.”
“But their credit ought to be good; the company has always stood A,
Number One!” cried Andy.
“Yes. And that will help some, so dad says. But it won’t help enough,”
answered Jack. “I really don’t know what they can do unless they can
get some of their friends to come to the front and help them out, and
I know dad and your fathers would hate to ask them to do that under
present circumstances, when everything looks so black.”
“What about the girls? Are they going to stay with Ruth now that this
thing has happened?” asked Randy.
“Mother telegraphed to Mary that she had better come home,” answered
Fred. “I suppose Martha will come with her. More than likely they’ll be
just as anxious as we were to know what’s going on.”
“I wonder if Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell are really implicated in
this?” mused Jack. “If they are, then the thing for us to do would be
to try to locate them and force them to tell the truth.”
“If they were implicated, you can make sure that now the hold-up has
been pulled off they’ll keep out of sight,” answered Randy. “The
fellows who did that may be thousands of miles away by this time.”
“And to think the police haven’t been able to round up anybody!” sighed
Andy.
“Well, it’s not so easy to trace a criminal as some people think,”
returned his twin. “Sometimes they catch a crook more by good luck than
by cleverness.”
“Well, then, let’s hope that we have luck in landing these bandits,”
came from Fred. “Wish I could get my hands on ’em!”
The next day was a busy one for the older Rovers. A conference was held
at the offices in Wall Street, and this was attended by the fathers of
the boys, as well as by Songbird Powell, Fred Garrison, and several
other men. Somewhat to the Rovers’ surprise, Mr. Stevenson was not
present.
“Mr. Stevenson hasn’t answered any of our telegrams,” said Dick to his
brothers, just as the conference got under way. “Perhaps he’s away from
home and hasn’t even heard of the hold-up.” And this surmise proved to
be correct.
The outsiders at the meeting wanted to know if the authorities had as
yet reported anything of importance and were much disappointed when
Dick stated that so far as he and his brothers knew no real information
concerning the hold-up men had yet been brought to light.
“The authorities have a number of hold-up men under suspicion,” said
he. “And all of these are being watched by the detectives. One of
the older detectives thinks this job may have been engineered by two
fellows known as Lefty Ditini, so called because he’s left-handed, and
Black Ronombo, two fellows who are supposed to be West Indians or,
possibly, Mexicans. They’re also looking for three slick bandits who
have been operating in Philadelphia and Buffalo, because they handle
jobs in exactly the same way this affair was handled.”
Dick then went on making a little speech and recited such particulars
of the affair as he could and ended by telling of the securities that
were missing and of the fact that the insurance on the documents had
run out, owing to the neglect of one of their clerks.
“I presume we are responsible for not keeping track of the insurance,”
he continued. “We should have watched that matter more closely.”
“Well, we’re all liable to make mistakes,” put in Gif Garrison’s father
quickly. “Of course, it’s a great shock, Dick. But I want to say right
now that I’m not going to blame either you or Tom or Sam for what has
happened.”
“And neither am I going to blame you,” put in Songbird Powell. “Why,
this hold-up might have happened to any of us. Wasn’t my house robbed
last summer? While we were at dinner in the dining room the thieves
crawled up on a second story porch and went through all the upper
rooms, taking money and jewelry to the tune of over two thousand
dollars. And we’ve never heard of what was stolen to this day.”
“Yes, I remember that,” said Tom.
“It’s good of you to stand by us,” said Dick, looking gratefully at his
former school chums. “But now let us come to business and see just what
can be done toward getting the Company out of this mess.”
The conference lasted until the middle of the afternoon and all sorts
of ways and means were discussed to bridge over the difficulty. Fred
Garrison came forward with an additional twenty thousand dollars and
Songbird Powell offered another fifteen thousand dollars, and these two
sums were tentatively accepted by Dick and his brothers.
In the midst of the talk four telegrams were received, two from their
old school chums, George Granbury and Hans Mueller and the others
from Stanley Browne and Spud Jackson who had been with them at Brill
College. All of these men tendered their sincerest sympathy and each
said he would help out if an endorsement of notes was needed.
“Well, that shows we’ve certainly got some friends!” said Sam, and
his eyes grew misty as he read one telegram after another. “Good for
George, Hans, Spud and Stanley!”
By a hard effort and a good deal of close figuring on the part of all
of the older Rovers the Company managed to fix things so that the
obligations amounting to about one hundred thousand dollars and falling
due within the next two weeks would be met. But what could be done
about the two hundred thousand coming due a month later was still a
question.
“We’ll have to see some of the bank officials about that,” said Tom.
“They ought to be able to tide us over, especially if we can get the
right kind of endorsements for our notes.” Yet even as he spoke he knew
that the prospects were not encouraging, for the money market was just
then very tight.
The boys visited the offices and took a look around the premises. All
of the clerks were once again at work and Jack and his cousins gazed at
Ken Greene in anything but a friendly manner.
“If it hadn’t been for that puddin’head the Company would be all
right,” whispered Fred to the others. “Just think of one clerk like
that being able to put a company like this in the hole just because he
forgot to do his duty!”
“It’s like the soldier who goes to sleep when he’s on guard,” put in
Andy. “For two pins I’d like to give him the thrashing of his life!”
“Well, as for that, I guess we’d all like to do it,” came from Jack.
When the boys returned to Riverside Drive they found that Martha and
Mary had just arrived. The girls were excited and tried to ask a dozen
questions at once.
“Mrs. Stevenson was just as upset as anybody,” said Martha in reply
to a question from her brother. “Mr. Stevenson was away on a fishing
trip and she didn’t know how to get hold of him. And what do you think,
Jack? Half of the money that Ruth’s father put into The Rover Company
belonged to Mrs. Stevenson! So she’ll stand to lose just as much as her
husband.”
“And what did Ruth have to say about the affair?”
“Oh, she didn’t know what to say. It took them both so much by surprise
that they were almost stunned. Then Mrs. Stevenson went into hysterics
when she thought all that money might be lost, and Ruth had all she
could do to quiet her.”
“Did Ruth blame dad for what happened?”
“She did and she didn’t. She thought it was awfully queer that none
of the officers of the company was at the offices when the hold-up
happened and she also thought it was queer that they should have had so
many securities on hand. She thought such valuable things were either
kept locked in the safe or else locked in the bank vaults.”
“Well, dad would have been there, only he got the fake ’phone call
that mother had been hurt in a subway accident. And as for having the
securities on hand, there is a good explanation about that, although
I’m afraid I can’t just explain it to you. Some of these securities
were being listed to be sold. They all had to be inspected, and that
was the reason they were at the offices and not in the bank vaults. Of
course, the majority of them were in the office safe, but that was open
because it is usually kept open during office hours. Dad says, however,
that they should have been locked in an inner compartment, although he
supposes the bandits could easily have opened such a compartment with
the tools they probably carried.”
“Well, it’s too bad. Mrs. Stevenson cried quite a good deal and once
she let out that she expected to give Ruth five thousand dollars’ worth
of the securities when Ruth became of age and another five thousand on
her wedding day, if she ever got married.”
“Well, it’s too bad, Martha, and nobody feels it any more than I do,”
answered Jack, and turned away, his lips quivering.
Instantly his sister was at his side and had her arm over his shoulder.
“Jack dear, don’t think that I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I do!
And I feel it just as much as you do! But don’t think too hard of Ruth.
She has been all upset by the way her mother takes it and by the fact
that her father could not be found. I’m sure when she calms down she
will understand it better.”
“Maybe,” Jack answered. “But just now it looks as if everything was
crumbling under our feet.”
A surprise awaited the Rovers just as the men of the family came home
from Wall Street. They had just stepped into the house when a tall
gentleman leaped from a taxicab and ran up the steps after Dick.
“Larry Colby!” exclaimed Jack’s father, greeting the head of Colby Hall
with a hearty handclasp. “I’m glad to see you!”
“I thought I’d catch you here rather than at the offices,” answered the
master of Colby Hall. “I started for New York just as soon as I heard
of your trouble.”
Colonel Colby was greeted warmly by not only the older Rovers, but also
the lads who had attended his school so many years. The colonel did not
waste words, but went immediately to the subject nearest to his heart.
“I knew you might be wanting assistance,” he said, “and I thought I’d
come here and tell you that I stand ready to do what I can. I haven’t
got any great amount of cash I can put up――most of my money goes into
improvements at the school――but what I have you are welcome to. And if
my name counts for anything, you are welcome to use that too.”
For the moment Dick could hardly speak, he was so overcome by his
emotion. Then he blurted out his thanks, remarking at the same time
that he had heard the same words not only from Fred Garrison and
Songbird Powell, but also from Spud Jackson, Stanley Browne, George
Granbury and Hans Mueller. “I’ll tell you what――old friends are best!”
he said. “Every one of them is sticking to us like glue!”