The Adventures of Rover Boys: 26 Illustrated Adventure Novels. Stratemeyer Edward

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      CHAPTER XXVIII

       THE BAXTERS TALK IT OVER

       Table of Contents

      "Tom, we are in a fix."

      "So it would seem, Sam. Who ever dreamed of running across the Baxters in this fashion?"

      "We are in the hands of a trio of rascals now, for Crabtree is as bad as the others."

      "Perhaps, but he hasn't the nerve that Arnold Baxter has. What shall we do?"

      "Try to get free."

      "I can't budge an inch. Dan Baxter took especial delight in tying me up."

      "I can move one hand and if — It is free! Hurrah!"

      "Can you get the other hand free?"

      "I can try. The rope — that's free, too. Now for my legs."

      Sam Rover worked rapidly, and was soon as free as ever. Then he ran over to where Tom was tied up and liberated his brother.

      "Now, what shall we do?"

      "I move we go after the people on that steam tug and get them to help us rescue Mrs. Stanhope."

      "That's a good idea, and the quicker we go the better."

      Sam remembered very well in what direction he had seen the tug, and now set a straight course across the island to the cove.

      But the trail led over a hill and through a dense thicket, and long before the journey was half finished both lads were well-nigh exhausted.

      "We ought to have followed the shore around — we would have got there quicker," panted Tom, as he fairly cut his way through the dense brush wood.

      "I hope there are no wild animals here."

      "I doubt if there is anything very large on the island. If so, we would have seen it before this."

      So speaking, they pushed on once more. The woods passed, they came to a swamp filled with long grass. They hurried around this, and then into the forest skirting the lake shore.

      At last the cove came into sight. Alas! the steam tug was nowhere to be seen.

      "She has gone!" groaned Sam. "Oh, what luck!

      "I can't see a sign of her anywhere," returned Tom. "She must have steamed away right after you came down the tree."

      "More than likely."

      Much disappointed and utterly worn out, they cast themselves down in the shade to rest. As they rested they listened intently, but only the breeze through the trees and the soft lap-lap of the waves striking the rocks reached their ears.

      "I never thought a spot on our lakes could be so lonely," said Sam at length. "Why, it's as if we were in the middle of the Pacific!"

      "I trust no harm befalls Mrs. Stanhope, Sam. Perhaps it is our duty to go back to her, in spite of the danger."

      "I was thinking of that, too. But we are only two boys against two men and a boy, and they are armed."

      "I think the Canadians will prove our friends in a mix-up. They hate Crabtree, for they half fancy he bewitched their boat."

      "We might go back on the sly and do some spying."

      "That is what I mean."

      But they were too tired to go back at once, and spent a good hour near the beach. Close at hand was a tiny spring, and here they procured a drink of water and took a wash-up, after which they felt somewhat better.

      They were about to start on the return when Tom suddenly plucked his brother by the sleeve.

      "Somebody is coming," he whispered. "Let us hide."

      They had scarcely time to get behind some brushwood when the Baxters came into view, moving very slowly and gazing sharply around them.

      "I don't see a thing, dad," came from Dan Baxter in disgusted tones. "I don't believe they came this way."

      "They certainly didn't go back to that old boat," replied Arnold Baxter. "Let us take a walk along the beach."

      "I am tired to death. Let us rest first."

      So speaking, Dan Baxter threw himself on a grassy bank overlooking the lake, and Arnold Baxter followed.

      Both were out of sorts and did a large amount of grumbling. The father lit a short briar-root pipe, while the son puffed away at a cigarette.

      "I'd give a hundred dollars if a boat would come along and take us to the mainland," observed the father. "I am sick and tired of this game all through."

      "So am I sick of it, dad. We made a mistake by ever coming East, it seems to me."

      "If I could get to the mainland I might make money out of it even so, Dan. Anderson Rover may have sent that ten thousand dollars to Bay City, after all. He thinks an awful lot of his sons, and won't want a hair of their head harmed."

      "So the money was to go to Bay City. You didn't tell me that before."

      "I wanted to keep the matter secret."

      "Who will receive it there?"

      "A man I can trust."

      "Oh, СКАЧАТЬ