CHAPTER XVIII A FORTUNE AND A LADY DISAPPEAR
"And that's all I know about it, Dick."
It was Dora who was speaking. She was seated on the sofa with Dick besideher. She had been telling her story and weeping copiously at the sametime. He had listened with great interest, and had comforted her all hecould. Tom and Sam had gone off with Mr. Rover, to the Laning place, tointerview Mr. Laning and his wife and see if they could throw anyadditional light on the mystery.
What Dora had to tell was not much, and it simply supplemented the storyMr. Rover had already related to his sons.
One day a strange messenger had appeared at the Stanhope house with aletter for Mrs. Stanhope. The communication was very brief and asked thelady to get the fortune from the trust company that was holding it andtake it to Ithaca and there meet Mr. Rover. She was to do this in secret,for, as the letter said, Mr. Rover "wanted to make an investment of greatimportance, but one which must be kept from the general public, or thechance to buy stock at a low price would be lost." The communication hadbeen signed in the name of the Rover boys' father.
Rather ignorant of business affairs, Mrs. Stanhope had taken the firstboat she could get for Ithaca and gone to the trust company and gottenfrom her private box the whole fortune--her own share and also that ofthe Lanings. There she had gone to the office of the Adrell LumberCompany, where, so the letter stated, Mr. Rover was to meet her.
The Adrell company's office proved to be a small affair on a side street,and on entering Mrs. Stanhope had met the messenger who had delivered theletter to her the day before. He had said that Mr. Rover was expectedevery minute and had requested her to sit down.
While the lady was waiting, with the fortune in her valise, a telephonehad rung and the man in the office had gone to answer the call. He saidMr. Rover wished to speak to her. She had answered the telephone, andsomeone had spoken to her in a voice she believed to be Anderson Rover's.The party at the other end of the wire had said he was then dickering forsome valuable mining shares owned by a rich old man, and said the shareswould surely go up to double value inside of a month.
"I can't leave the old man," came over the wire. "Is Mr. Barker there?"
The man in the office had said he was Mr. Barker, and then the man on thewire had vouchsafed the additional information to Mrs. Stanhope that hewas an old friend and perfectly trustworthy. Then Mrs. Stanhope had beenrequested to turn the fortune over to Mr. Barker, who would deliver it toMr. Rover without delay.
Thinking that all was fair and square, Mrs. Stanhope had delivered thevalise to the man, who had gone off with it immediately. He had told herto go home and Mr. Rover would send her word before night about what hehad done.
She had returned to Cedarville and to her home and there she had waitedpatiently to hear from Anderson Rover. No message coming for her, she hadat last grown suspicious and sent word to the hotel at which the Roverboys' father was supposed to be stopping. On receiving a reply that hewas not there, and had not been there, she grew more alarmed than ever,and then sent the message to Oak Run which so mystified all of theRovers.
"We have learned that the Adrell Lumber Company went out of businessseveral months ago," explained Dora. "The old signs were left up and theoffice was rented temporarily to a man who said he wanted to use it forstorage purposes."
"And it was rented that way just to fool your mother," returned Dick.
On learning the truth Mrs. Stanhope had been all but overcome. She hadsent word to Mr. Laning, but he could not come, having hurt his ankle asalready mentioned.
Then, while Dora and her mother were in the house alone, another messagehad come. It was signed Tad Sobber, and stated that Sobber had thefortune and would return the greater portion of it provided Mrs. Stanhopewould allow him to keep ten thousand dollars and promise not to prosecutehim. If she agreed to this, she was to meet a certain man in Cedarville,who would take her across the lake, where she could meet Sobber and getback her valise with her precious belongings. She was particularlycautioned to come alone--otherwise the fortune would not be returned.
"And she went across the lake, and that is the last seen or heard ofher," said Dora, and then she burst into fresh tears.
"Have you seen anything lately of Josiah Crabtree?" questioned Dick.
"No, but mamma got a long letter from him, in which he said he loved hermore than ever and that she had better make up her mind to marry him. Theletter was so sickening mamma tore it up and put it in the stove."
"Dora, I hate to alarm you more, but I think Crabtree had something to dowith getting your mother to cross the lake."
"What makes you say that, Dick?" she demanded, with a new fear cominginto her face.
"I'll tell you," he answered, and then related the particulars of themeeting with Dan Baxter. When he concluded her face was very pale and herhands icy cold.
"Oh, Dick, would that--that monster carry her off and--and force mamma tomarry him!" she moaned.
"I can't answer that, Dora. But you'll remember what a strange influenceCrabtree used to exercise over her."
"Yes! yes! But mamma was sickly then and her mind was weak. Now she ismuch stronger."
"I think Crabtree is something of a hypnotist and mesmerist, and there isno telling what such a rascal will do when he sets out for it. He wantsthat fortune just as much as Sobber wants it. I think they are workingthis game between them."
"But why would they take mamma away after they had the fortune?"
"Because the fortune is not all in gold. There is some very rare jewelryand precious stones. The thieves would have trouble in disposing of thosethings unless they had some semblance of a legal right to do so. If Mr.Crabtree was your mother's husband he could take the jewelry and preciousstones and sell them, and nobody would prosecute him."
"Oh, Dick, what shall I do?"
"I don't know that you can do anything, Dora. My advice is, that you goover and stay with the Lanings, and let us try to solve this mystery.We'll do all we can, and we'll make the authorities do all they can,too."
"The Cedarville police are of no account--in a matter of suchimportance."
"I know that. Father sent to New York for a couple of first-classdetectives. Perhaps they'll be able to get on the trail quicker than anyof us realize." But though Dick spoke thus it was more to allay Dora'sanxiety than through any faith in what the sleuths of the law might beable to accomplish.
The matter was talked over a little longer, and then Dora dressed andpacked her suit-case and announced herself ready to go to the Laningfarm, located some distance away. Dick drove her over. They found thewhole household in excitement over what had occurred.
"I declare, that fortune has brought nothing but trouble from the start,"said Mrs. Laning, with a deep sigh. "Sometimes I wish we had never heardof it!"
"I shouldn't care so much for the fortune, if only I knew mamma wassafe!" answered Dora.
"I am going down to Cedarville and see if I can't get on the trail of theparty who took your mother across the lake," said Dick.
"And I'll go along," came from Tom.
"So will I," added Sam.
"I am going to Ithaca, to look into that lumber office business," saidMr. Rover. "I want to get a good description of the fellow who got thatvalise with the fortune." In his excitement he did not think of hisinjured knee.
All drove to Cedarville, and there Mr. Rover took the boat down LakeCayuga. The boys walked along the docks, looking for a man named Belcher,who rented out small boats. They found the fellow at a boathouse, puttinga new seat in a rowboat.
"Do you know anything of this affair?" asked Dick, after he had learnedhow the news of Mrs. Stanhope's disappearance, and the disappearance ofthe fortune, had spread.
"I was just thinking I might know something," answered Caleb Belcher,slowly. He was known to be a man who never hurried.
"What?" asked the three Rovers, eagerly.
"Well----" The boatman slowly shift
ed his quid of tobacco from one sideof his mouth to the other. "I was thinking I might know a little."
"But what? Tell us, man!" cried Dick. "Don't keep us waiting."
"It ain't much," was the slow reply. "I was out rowing, youunderstand--coming from the Point to Harden's dock, when I see a boat Ididn't know, moving across the lake."
"Yes," said Sam, impatiently.
"She put across the lake, and she had two men and a woman in her. Thewoman wore a dark dress and a dark veil."
"It must have been Mrs. Stanhope!" cried Dick. "When was this?"
"About the same time they say the lady disappeared."
"Where did the boat go to?" asked Tom.
"Well, I was kind of curious to know whose boat it was, so I watchedpretty closely, and she went in over there," and the old boatman pointedwith his hand to a spot on the opposite shore where there was a tall rockand a fair-sized cove.
"Take us over there at once and I'll pay you well," said Dick. "Get outtwo pairs of oars, and we'll help you to row."
Slow though he was, Caleb Belcher was always anxious to earn money, andsoon a rowboat was gotten ready and the three Rover boys sprang in. Theold boatman followed, and the craft was headed across the lake.
"Who lives near that spot?" questioned Dick, as they swept over the calmbosom of the lake.
"Tony Carew's farm isn't far off," answered the old boatman.
"Anybody else?"
"Not that I know of."
"Do you know this Tony Carew."
"Guess I do--we went to school together, and licked each other more'n adozen times," and Caleb Belcher chuckled over the recollection.
"All right, show us to his place," said Dick.
As soon as the shore was reached all sprang out of the boat, which wastied to a bush growing nearby. Then Caleb Belcher led the way along atrail that was rather rough. Presently they came to a road and on it anold farmhouse.
"There is Tony Carew now," said Belcher, and pointed to an old man whosat on a bench, smoking.
"I didn't have nuthin' to do with it--you can't mix me up in it!" criedTony Carew, as soon as Dick stated the object of his visit. "I didn'ttech the lady!" And he bobbed his head vigorously. Evidently he was a maneasily scared.
"I want to learn if you know anything about it," returned Dick, sternly."If you do, tell me."
"I didn't tech the lady! I wouldn't tech nobuddy!" howled Tony Carew.
"Did you see her and the men?"
"Yes--but I didn't tech nobuddy, I tell you. I stayed in the barn."
"But you saw her!" cried Dick. "Where did she go? Or where did those mentake her?"
"The hull crowd got in a carriage wot was waitin' down the road."
"Whose carriage?"
"I dunno. They had a white hoss an' a black hoss, an' the carriage hadthe top kinder torn."
"Who was driving?"
"A man with a linen duster, an' a cap pulled away down over his face."
"Which way did they go?"
"That way," answered Tony Carew, and pointed to a side road leadingeastward.