The Rover Boys Down East: or, The Struggle for the Stanhope Fortune
TextCHAPTER XXI
FROM ONE CLUE TO ANOTHER
“Now, what do you want?” asked the old man, as he eyed Dick, curiously.
“I want to talk to that woman, first of all,” cried Dick, and he pointed to Mrs. Sobber, who was just disappearing through a door in the rear of the hallway.
“But what does this mean?” went on Mr. Mason, in a faint voice. “I have done nothing wrong.” And now he sank on a rush-bottomed chair, all out of breath. He was very old, and his hair and his face were exceedingly white.
“I’ll be back and tell you,” went on Dick. He could see at a glance that the old owner of the building had had nothing to do with the stealing of the fortune or the abduction of Mrs. Stanhope.
Dick ran to the door at the back of the hallway, to find it locked. He threw his weight against it, but it did not give way.
He was on the point of pushing on the door again, when a cry from the yard reached his ears.
“Dick! Dick! Come and stop them!” It was Tom who was calling.
“I’m coming, Tom!” he yelled back. And then he landed on the door with all his might.
“Don’t br – break the door!” gasped the old man. “If you want to get out to the back, go up and down the stairs,” and he pointed a trembling finger upward.
Dick understood, and ran up the front stairs three steps at a time. He passed through a short hallway and then reached a stairs, running down to a back entry way. As he went down these stairs there came another cry from Tom.
“Dick! Dick! they are getting away!”
As fast as he could, Dick reached the entryway and threw open the outer door. He came out in a small yard, surrounded on three sides by a high board fence. At the rear was a gate, and this was wide open.
“Tom! you are hurt!” exclaimed Dick, as he caught sight of his brother flat on his back, and with the blood oozing from a cut on his forehead.
“Yes, the rascal hit me in the head with a club!” gasped poor Tom.
“What rascal?”
“Tad Sobber!”
“Where is he now?”
“Ran out of the gate – and a woman just followed him.”
“Did you see anybody else?”
“No. Go after ’em,” added the injured youth, pluckily.
“Are you badly hurt?”
“I – I guess not. But he gave me an awful crack!” And pulling himself up, Tom staggered to a wood-chopping block and sat down.
Dick waited to hear no more, but made for the gate and ran into an alleyway beyond. This made a turn and came out on a street behind that upon which the house was located. Dick looked up and down the crooked thoroughfare, but could see no signs of Tad Sobber or the woman.
“Did you see a young man and a woman come out of here?” asked Dick, of a boy who was playing with a ball.
“Sure I did,” answered the lad.
“Where did they go?”
“Took the auto and went that way.”
“An auto?”
“Yes.”
“Was it waiting here?”
“Sure.”
“Somebody in it?”
“A man was running it. He was here yesterday, too.”
“Did you see who he took out yesterday?” went on Dick, growing interested.
“He came twice. Once he had a lady and a gent for passengers. They came out of that alleyway, just as you did.”
“When was this?”
“Just about supper time.”
Dick ran down the street in the direction the automobile had taken. He could see no signs of the machine, and presently returned to the back yard where he had left Tom. There the pair were joined by Sam.
“We were too late – they got away!” said Dick, with something like a groan in his voice.
“But not too late for Tad Sobber to leave me his card!” muttered Tom, putting his hand to the cut on his forehead.
“We’ll have to have that tended to, Tom,” said Dick, kindly.
“Oh, it isn’t so bad. I’ll put some court-plaster on it, after I’ve washed it.”
“I’m sorry, but I couldn’t locate a policeman anywhere,” said Sam.
“Never mind, I guess a policeman would only be in the way,” returned his oldest brother. “He’d ask a lot of questions, and let it go at that. I’m going into the house, and see if I can find out anything.”
“Maybe Mrs. Stanhope is in there,” cried Sam.
“No – they have taken her off in an auto, I am almost sure of it, Sam.”
The three Rover boys entered the old house, to find Mr. Mason walking nervously up and down in the parlor.
“Where is Mrs. Sobber?” he asked anxiously.
“I imagine she has run away,” answered Dick. He drew a long breath. “Mr. Mason, I am going to ask you some questions. If you wish to avoid trouble with the authorities, you will answer me directly and truthfully.”
“Yes! Yes! I felt that something was wrong!” cried the old man. “I want no trouble, I am too old and respectable. What is it all about?”
“Briefly, a lady has been abducted and a fortune has been stolen.”
“Oh, then the lady they said was – er – insane, was not insane at all.”
“Did they tell you she was insane?”
“Yes, that is what Mrs. Sobber and one of the men said. They said they were going to take her to a private asylum.”
“The villains!” burst out Tom.
“What asylum?”
“I don’t know that. But I overheard them talking about taking a boat to Portland.”
“Portland?” repeated Dick. “Are you sure they were bound for that city?”
“Oh, I am not sure of anything – I am only telling you what I overheard.”
“Please tell us all about those men who came here, and about the lady, and about Mrs. Sobber,” pursued Dick.
“Hadn’t we better get after the auto?” asked Tom, who believed in action.
“You and Sam can try to hunt it up,” answered the elder Rover. “I’ll hear all Mr. Mason can tell first. It may give us a direct clue. I’ll meet you later at the Parker House.”
Sam and Tom went off, and then Dick listened patiently to the rather rambling tale Oliver Mason had to tell. The old man said that he had known Mrs. Sobber when her husband was alive and had hired her to be his housekeeper after the death of his three sisters and his wife.
“She was all alone in the world excepting for a young man named Tad Sobber, who came to see her once in a while,” said Oliver Mason. “I didn’t like the young man much, but the two had quite some business together.”
The old man then told how Mrs. Sobber had gone away for several days, stating she must look after a lady friend who had become insane. She stated that possibly she would bring the lady to the house for a day or two, but that if she did, Mr. Mason need not be afraid, for a doctor and a nurse would come along. Then the lady had arrived, in company with Tad Sobber and two men. He had not been allowed to talk to the woman, the others saying she might become violent in the presence of strangers. Then the lady had been taken away by the men and Tad Sobber the night before, and Tad Sobber had come back for Mrs. Sobber just about the time the Rovers tried to get into the house.
The story was told with such simpleness that Dick felt bound to believe it, and consequently he saw no reason for blaming Oliver Mason, who was, in truth, on the verge of second childhood.
“I must look around and see if those scamps left anything behind,” said Dick. “You won’t object to that, will you?”
“No! no!” cried the old man. “Only please do not take any of my few belongings.”
“I’ll not take anything, sir, you can trust me absolutely,” answered Dick, readily.
He made a search of the rooms, and especially the apartments occupied by Mrs. Stanhope and her abductors. At first he found little of value, although he picked up a handkerchief that had Mrs. Stanhope’s initials embroidered in the corner.
“That is proof positive that she was here,” he thought grimly.
In one of the fireplaces he came across some half-burnt letters. He looked them over with care and caught the post-mark, Portland, Me. On one slip he read the following:
easy from Portla
the schooner Mary Del
as we arrive, I will have
if not then Slay’s Island, where
“Humph! this may prove of value,” murmured Dick to himself, and placed the bit of letter in his pocket. Then he hunted around the rooms again, but nothing more came to light.
“Will Mrs. Sobber come back?” asked the old man, when Dick went below.
“I doubt it, sir.”
“She must be an awful woman, if what you say is true.”
“She is a criminal, Mr. Mason, and so is that Tad Sobber. I would advise you to have nothing more to do with them.”
“I must have a housekeeper,” whined the old man.
“Then hire somebody you are sure is honest,” returned Dick; and a few minutes later he quitted the house.
On his way to the hotel he met Sam and Tom, who had looked in vain for the automobile. In as few words as possible he told his brothers about what Oliver Mason had said, and of the finding of the slip of paper.
“What do you make of it?” asked Sam.
“I think they are going to Portland, either by auto or in a boat,” answered Dick.
“That’s just what I think,” added Tom. “But we may be mistaken.”
“Before we go any further, I am going to have that house watched,” went on Dick. “I’ll hire a first-class detective, and then, if Mrs. Sobber or any of the others come back, we’ll have ’em arrested.”
They visited a detective agency, and a man was put on the case without delay. Then the Rovers hurried down to the water front, to see if they could get any trace of Mrs. Stanhope there.
An hour’s tramping produced no results, and somewhat discouraged, they were on the point of going to the hotel, to meet Spud, when they saw an old sailor come from a restaurant close by.
“My friend,” said Dick, addressing the old tar, “I’d like to get some information. Did you ever hear of a schooner in these parts that was called the Mary Del something or other?”
“Mary Del?” repeated the old sailor, twisting his forelock. “Oh, I reckon you mean the Mary Delaway!” he cried. “Sure, I know her. Didn’t I see her sail for Portland less than an hour ago!”
CHAPTER XXII
A CHASE UP THE COAST
“You saw her sail for Portland!” cried Sam.
“Less than an hour ago?” exclaimed Tom.
“Where from?” queried Dick, quickly. “Hurry up and tell me – it will be money in your pocket.”
“The Mary Delaway sailed from Cruser’s dock,” answered the old sailor. “That’s about four blocks from here. I can show you the place. But you can’t get aboard, messmates – she’s gone.”
“We must catch her!” ejaculated Dick. “No matter at what cost, we must catch her. How can we do it?”
“Can’t we follow her in a motor boat, or a steam launch?” asked Tom.
“You can follow her in a tug,” said the old tar. “But she is out of sight now.”
“Do you know where she is going to land in Portland?” asked Sam.
“No.”
“Do you know anybody on board?”
“I know Jack Crumpet. He sailed in the old Resolute with me. I went to see him – that’s how I know the Mary Delaway sailed.”
“You were on board?” asked Dick.
“No, I wasn’t – I saw Jack on the dock. He said as how the cap’n had given orders for nobuddy to come aboard – why, I don’t know.”
“Well, I know,” muttered Dick. “It was to keep their villainous doings secret. Who did you see on the schooner?”
“I saw several men and two ladies. One lady looked kind of excited.”
“It must have been Mrs. Stanhope!” murmured Dick. “Come!” he cried. “Let us get some kind of a boat and follow that schooner.”
The Rover boys were accustomed to quick action, and they had supplied themselves with plenty of ready cash to use in case of emergency. Consequently, it was an easy matter for them to pick up a steam tug at one of the docks. The captain said he would willingly follow up the Mary Delaway and try to overtake her if he was paid for it.
“Will you go along?” asked Dick, of the old tar. “I want you to aid in picking up that schooner. You know her by sight. I will pay you good wages.”
“I’ve signed articles for a trip to Africy, starting next week Thursday,” answered Larry Dixon, for such was the sailor’s name.
“We’ll get you back long before that time,” answered Dick. “And pay you a nice salary in the bargain.”
“Then I’m your man, messmate,” responded Larry Dixon.
While the steam tug was getting ready to leave, Dick called up Spud on the telephone and acquainted their college chum with what had occurred.
“When will you be back?” asked Spud.
“I don’t know,” replied Dick. “Better not wait for us. This may prove a long chase.”
“Well, I hope you rescue the lady, get back the fortune, and land those rascals in jail,” said Spud.
The steam tug carried a crew of six, all good, strong, hearty fellows. In a few brief words Dick and his brothers explained to the captain how matters stood, and Captain Wells promised to aid them all he could in thwarting the plans of the evildoers. He was armed, and said he could lend the Rovers some pistols if they wanted them.
“I reckon the Mary Delaway will take the regular route to Portland – that is, so far as the wind will allow,” said the owner of the tug. “We’ll follow that route just as fast as our steam will permit. But let me give you a tip. Perhaps it will be better for you to merely follow ’em to Portland, and have them locked up when they reach that place. If you tackle ’em on the high seas they may show fight and get the best of you.”
“I’ll think that over,” answered Dick, slowly. “But meanwhile crowd on all steam and get after them. Never mind using up your coal – we’ll pay for it.”
The docks were soon left behind, and the black smoke pouring from the funnel told how the fireman was doing his best to make steam. But it was now late, and it would soon become a problem, as to whether it would be advisable to run so fast during the night. They might pass the schooner without knowing it.
“I’ll leave the matter to you, Captain Wells,” said Dick, after talking the matter over with his brothers. “I’ll pay you your regular price for chartering the tug, and one hundred dollars additional if we succeed in rescuing Mrs. Stanhope.”
“I’ll do my level best for you, Mr. Rover,” responded the captain. “I’ll talk to my crew.” And he did, promising each man an extra five dollars if they succeeded in doing what the Rovers desired. As a consequence every man, including Larry Dixon, was constantly on the lookout for the Mary Delaway.
Inside of an hour Boston Harbor had been left well behind, and then the bow of the steam tug was turned up the coast in the direction of Portland, about a hundred miles distance. The day was now over and the lights on the tug were lit.
“Don’t see anything of the Mary Delaway yet,” remarked Larry Dixon. “I’m afraid we’ll have to shut up shop till mornin’.”
“Could the schooner reach Portland by that time?” asked Sam.
“She’d be there early in the morning,” answered the old sailor.
“Then we had better run for Portland, too,” said Tom. “We might hang around outside the harbor on the watch.”
It was a clear night, with no moon, but with countless stars bespangling the heavens. The boys and some of the others remained on the watch, although they could see but little.
“It would be great if we had a searchlight,” said Sam.
“Just the thing!” cried Tom. “But we haven’t any, so what’s the use of talking about it?”
“Might as well try to get some sleep,” said Captain Wells, about nine o’clock. “I can call you if anything turns up.”
“We’ll stay up a couple of hours yet,” answered Dick, although the excitement of the day had worn him out.
But not a sight of the schooner was seen, and one after another the Rover boys laid down to get a few hours’ sleep. Captain Wells allowed them to rest until six o’clock. By that time they were standing around near the entrance to Portland harbor.
“See anything yet?” asked Dick, as he sprang up from the berth upon which he had been resting.
“Not yet,” answered the captain of the tug.
“You don’t think they got here ahead of us?”
“No, for we have been here for several hours.”
The boys got up and washed, and then had breakfast. In the meantime the steam tug cruised around, and those on board watched eagerly for a sign of the Mary Delaway.
Thus two hours passed. As the time went by the three Rovers grew more anxious than ever.
“What do you make of this, Dick?” asked Tom.
“I don’t know what to make of it, Tom.”
“It looks to me as if they had given us the slip,” said Sam.
“If they didn’t come here, where did they go to?”
“I don’t know. What did that scrap of paper say?”
“That spoke of Slay’s Island. But none of the men on this tug ever heard of such a place.”
“That is not to be wondered at, Dick,” went on Sam. “I understand there are scores of islands in Casco Bay. It isn’t likely these men from Boston would know the names of all of ’em.”
They remained around the entrance to Portland harbor until noon and then Dick ordered the captain to run in and land them.
“You might go up and down the docks a bit,” he said. “They might have slipped us after all.” They entered the harbor, passing the old lighthouse, and soon were within easy reach of the docks. They looked on all sides for the Mary Delaway, but in vain.
“We have missed her!” groaned Dick.
“What are you going to do next?” questioned Tom.
“See if I can’t find out in some way where the schooner went to – and also find out where Slay’s Island is located.”
“We might get a map of Casco Bay. That would have the names of the islands on it,” suggested Sam. “I know there are a great many of ’em, some of ’em quite small and others very large.”
At last they started to go ashore. They ran up to a dock where the tug was in the habit of landing when at Portland, and the boys walked to the gangplank that was put out for them.
“Look! look!” cried Tom, suddenly, and pointed to a motor boat lying alongside the steam tug.
“Well, I never!” gasped Sam.
The motor boat was a craft of fair size, and very gaudily painted, in red, blue and yellow. It was piled high with suit-cases, bundles and fishing outfits. At the wheel was a tall young man, smoking a cigarette – a stranger to the Rovers. In the bow, also smoking, were two other young men, Jerry Koswell and Bart Larkspur.
CHAPTER XXIII
ABOARD THE MARY DELAWAY
“Hold on there, you!” bawled Jerry Koswell.
“Why, it’s the Rovers!” ejaculated Bart Larkspur. “How did they get here?”
“They are following us, that’s what!” stormed Koswell. “And I won’t have it!”
“What do you want?” asked Dick, as he walked to the end of the tug nearest to the motor boat.
“I want to know what right you’ve got to follow us?” returned Jerry Koswell, sourly.
“Who said we were following you?”
“Oh, I know you are. Didn’t you follow us to Boston, too? I want to know what it means?”
“Maybe it means that we are going to have you arrested,” put in Tom, with a side wink at his brothers.
“Arrested!” gasped Larkspur, and turned pale. “You shan’t do it!”
“I want you to stop following us,” went on Koswell.
“Go ahead – don’t talk to them any more!” whispered Larkspur, uneasily. “Let us get away as soon as we can.”
“I am not afraid,” answered Koswell, boastfully.
“But they may have us locked up!”
“What’s the row about?” asked the young man who was at the wheel.
“Oh, it was a row we had at college, Alf. Those fellows were in the wrong, but they made the Head believe otherwise, and we had to – er – resign,” answered Jerry Koswell. “Well, go ahead, if you want to,” he added.
“Where are you going?” asked Tom, as the motor boat commenced to move from the dock.
“We are bound for – ” began the stranger.
“Don’t tell them, Alf!” begged Larkspur. “Go ahead – let’s get out.”
“If you don’t tell us where you are going – ” began Sam, when Dick stopped him.
“Let them go – we haven’t time to bother with them now,” said the eldest Rover boy. “We have other fish to fry.”
“As you say, Dick. But we ought to scare the wits out of them if nothing else.”
“We’ll do it – some day,” put in Tom.
As the motor boat swept past they saw that the craft was named the Magnet. Soon some other boats coming in hid it from view.
On going ashore, the Rover boys made diligent inquiries concerning the Mary Delaway and at last learned that the schooner was expected by a certain transportation company some time that afternoon, to take on a cargo of lumber for Newark, New Jersey.
“I don’t know what we can do excepting to wait,” said Dick.
“Let us go down the harbor to meet the schooner,” said Tom. “Then Sobber and Crabtree and the others won’t have any chance to land in secret.”
“Do you think they’ll try to land here, Dick?”
“Honestly Tom, I don’t. It is more than likely the captain of the schooner will land that crowd on some island before he comes into Portland.”
“Slay’s Island?”
“Yes – if there really is such a place.”
The steam tug left the dock and ran down to the neighborhood of Portland Light. Here they cruised around for nearly two hours, when old Larry Dixon gave a shout:
“I see her! I see her! There’s the Mary Delaway!”
“Where?” asked the three Rovers, excitedly.
“There!” And the old sailor pointed with his hand. “I know her by the two patches on her mainsail and the slit in her jib.”
The steam tug was headed in the direction of the incoming schooner, and before long the two craft were within hailing distance of each other.
“Aboard the schooner!” cried Dick.
“Aboard the tug!” was the answering hail.
“I want to talk to the captain.”
“I’m the captain. What do you want?”
“I want you to lay-to and let me come on board.”
“What for?”
“Business.”
“I’m in a hurry,” snapped the captain of the Mary Delaway, and the Rovers saw that he was a hard looking individual.
“You can suit yourself, Captain. But if you don’t let me come on board I’ll have you placed under arrest as soon as you reach your dock,” said Dick, in the sternest voice he could command.
“Arrest!” roared the master of the schooner. “Don’t you talk like that to me, you young whipper-snapper.”
“I will talk like that to you – and I’ll do just what I said.”
“Have me arrested! You must be joking.”
“I am not.”
“What for?”
“You know well enough.”
“Honestly I don’t. You have made some mistake.”
“Are you going to stop and let me come on board, or not?” went on Dick, as calmly as he could. “If you don’t, it’s arrest and nothing less. You can take your choice.”
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” growled the captain. “But I suppose I’ll have to let you come aboard, to avoid worse trouble.”
The schooner was brought around, and not without difficulty Dick leaped aboard, followed by Tom and Sam. The captain of the schooner when he saw that they were only young men, glared savagely at them.
“Now then, explain yourselves!” he snapped, shortly.
“I want to know what you have done with Mrs. Stanhope?” said Dick, thinking it best to come directly to the point.
“Mrs. Stanhope? Who is she?”
“The lady who was abducted by Tad Sobber and Josiah Crabtree and taken on your schooner at Boston.”
“Never heard of any of the people you are talking about, young man. You have got hold of the wrong boat.”
“No, there is no mistake. You left Boston yesterday afternoon, and you had on board Mrs. Stanhope and her abductors. I guess you are old enough to know what the punishment is for abduction,” went on Dick, pointedly.
“Abduction? I ain’t abducted nobody, I tell you. You’ve got hold of the wrong boat. You can search us if you want to.”
“Oh, I don’t suppose the lady is on board now. I want to know what you did with her.”
“Don’t know her – never saw her.”
“You took her on board, and you were seen doing it,” put in Tom.
“Seen!” cried the captain, and gave a start.
“Yes,” put in Sam. “Oh, we’ve got you dead to rights, and the best thing you can do is to tell us at once where she is.”
“Say,” said the master of the schooner, slowly and thoughtfully. “You tell me the particulars of this matter and maybe I can put you on the track of something. I never heard of any lady being abducted.” He saw that he was cornered and that if arrested matters might go very hard with him.
In a few words Dick and his brothers told about how the Stanhope fortune had been stolen and how the lady herself had been abducted and taken to Boston. Then they said they had positive proof that the lady had been taken aboard the Mary Delaway.
“Where is the proof?” asked the captain, and now his voice was not as steady as it had been.
“Well, for one thing, there is a sailor on the tug who saw the lady on your vessel,” said Dick. “In the second place I’ve got a letter, written by one of those rascals, and naming your boat – ”
“What! Did any of those lunkheads write it down in a letter?” roared the captain. “If they did – ” he stopped, in great confusion.
“Ah, so you admit the crime, do you?” said Dick, quickly.
“No, I don’t admit no crime!” growled the captain of the schooner. “I promised to do a little job for two gentleman, that’s all – and I did it – and got paid for it.”
“What was the job to be?”
“If I tell you, you won’t try to drag me into it, will you?” was the anxious question.
“If you don’t tell us, you’ll surely go to jail.”
“I didn’t know there was anything wrong, honest I didn’t – leastwise at the start, although I had some suspicions later. That feller Sobber and the old gent, Crabtree, along with a Mrs. Sobber, said they had an aunt who was a bit insane, and they wanted to take her to an island up here in Casco Bay, for rest and medical treatment. They hired me to do the job, and paid me well for it.”
“And you took them to the island?”
“I did.”
“What island?” asked all of the Rover boys.
“A place called Chesoque.”
“Chesoque?”
“Yes. The old lobster catchers used to call it Shay’s Island, after old Cap’n Shay, of the lobster fleet.”