The Rover Boys Series. Stratemeyer Edward

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      "She can't go very far," answered Harris. "The water-line around here is rather dangerous in the dark."

      "Is that a storm coming up? " asked Dick.

      "I wouldn't be surprised."

      With care they continued on their way, taking the course they surmised their enemies had pursued.

      "There is some kind of land!" cried Sam, who was on the watch. "What place is that, Harris?"

      "Becker's Cove — so they call it," answered the old tar. "It's not far from Staten Island."

      "Do you think they came in here?"

      "Perhaps. If they did I reckon they calculate to stay over night."

      "Why?"

      "Because they'll want a pilot otherwise. It's rather dangerous sailing about here — especially in the dark."

      Five minutes later found them close to shore, and the sails were lowered and the anchor cast out.

      "I'm going to land," said Dick, and, after a consultation, it. was decided that he should take Sam with him, leaving Tom and Martin Harris to keep watch from the yacht. If either party discovered anything, a double whistle twice repeated was to notify the others.

      Now that Dan Baxter had actually opened fire on them, Dick wished he had a firearm of some sort. But none was at hand, nor did he know where to obtain such a thing in that vicinity, and the best he and Sam could do was to cut themselves clubs out of some brush growing not far from the shore line.

      The spot at which they had landed was by no means an inviting one. It looked like a bit of dumping and meadow ground, and not far away rested the remains of half a dozen partly decayed canal boats which the tide had washed up high in the bogs years before.

      "If they landed around here I'd like to know where they went to," grumbled Sam, after he and his big brother had trudged around for half an hour without gaining any clew worth following. "It begins to look as if we had missed it, doesn't it?"

      "Never give up, Sam. We have got to find them, you know."

      "Yes, if we don't break our necks before that time comes, Dick," and as Sam spoke he went down into a meadow hole up to his knees. Dick helped him out, and as he did so the sounds of two voices broke upon their ears.

      "You needn't come if you don't want to, Mumps," came out of the darkness, in Dan Baxter's voice. "I only thought you would be glad of the chance."

      "There they are," whispered Dick. "Lie down, and we'll see where they are bound, and if Dora is with them."

      He threw himself to earth, and Sam followed. In another moment Baxter and his toady came into plain view, although still some distance away.

      "I'll come," came from Mumps. "But I didn't expect to meet your father here."

      "I did. He's been here for several days. That's the reason why I had Goss bring the Flyaway over. I'm going to kill two birds with one stone."

      "What do you mean?"

      "I'm going to carry Dora Stanhope off, just as old Crabtree wanted, and I'm going to give my father a lift."

      "You mean that you are going to help him to escape from the authorities?"

      "I didn't put it that way. He wants to keep out of sight."

      "It amounts to the same thing, Dan."

      "As you will. Will you come, or do you want to go back to the yacht?"

      "I — er — I guess I'll come," faltered the toady. "But we must be careful."

      "To be sure. I reckon I have as much at stake as you."

      The two passed out of hearing, and Dick touched his brother on the arm.

      "Did you hear that, Sam?" he asked excitedly.

      "I did. What can it mean?"

      "Mean? It means that Dan Baxter's father is in the neighborhood and Dan is going to call on his parent."

      "I know that, but — "

      "You are surprised that father and son are equally bad? I'm not; I thought it all along."

      "What will you do?"

      "Follow them."

      "Will you whistle for Tom and Martin Harris?"

      "No; that might arouse suspicion. Let us follow them alone. When they return to their yacht we can tell the others," concluded Dick.

      CHAPTER XXII

       THE BAXTERS MAKE A NEW MOVE

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      As silently as possible Dick and Sam came after Baxter and his toady John Fenwick.

      The pair of evildoers left the stretch of meadow as fast as they could, and hurried up a narrow path leading to a half-tumbled-down brick factory.

      At the corner of the dilapidated building they paused, and Dan Baxter emitted a long, low whistle.

      A silence of several seconds followed, and then a man appeared out of the darkness.

      "Who's dat?" came the question.

      "It's me, Girk — Dan Baxter," replied the former bully of Putnam Hall, with small regard for the grammar that had been taught to him.

      "Who's dat with you?"

      "Mumps. He's all right."

      "I don't know about dat. Yer father t'ought yer would come alone," growled the tramp thief.

      "I've got a new movement on, Buddy. Take us to my father without delay."

      "Is dat fellow to be trusted?"

      "Yes, you can trust me," replied Mumps with considerable nervousness. His steps in the direction of wrong were beginning to frighten him. At the start he had thought of nothing but to aid Josiah Crabtree in his suit with Mrs. Stanhope, and had calculated that after the marriage the running off with Dora would be overlooked. But here he was taking the girl miles from her home and associated with two men who had robbed a firm of bankers of many thousands of dollars. The outlook, consequently, worried him very much.

      "All right, den," muttered Buddy Girk. "Follow me."

      He disappeared within the ruined factory, and Baxter and Mumps went after him. Listening intently at a broken-out window, Dick and Sam heard them ascend to an upper floor.

      "I guess we have tracked Arnold Baxter," whispered Dick. "I wonder if he and Girk have that stolen money and the securities here?"

      "More than likely, Dick. Thieves don't generally СКАЧАТЬ