“What do you know about that fire?” questioned Jack.
“That fire was sot by three of them Longley boys,” answered Jeff. “I done heard them talkin’ about it one night.”
“You did!” exclaimed Fred. “Who were the boys?”
“They was that Flanders boy and them two other fellows named Sands and Halliday.”
“Tell us all about this, Jeff!” cried Andy eagerly.
Thereupon, sitting on the bungalow porch with the boys around him, the colored man gave the particulars. He said that he had caught the three boys behind the shed at the Willoughby camp smoking and playing cards. They were talking about old times and did not notice him when he went into the shed. He heard them mention a fire at the Colby Hall boathouse and, listening, found that it had been caused by Flanders and his two cronies.
“I ain’t sure that they done it on purpose,” went on Jeff. “They went there to rough-house the place, same as when they done come here and rough-housed this bungalow. They had a lantern with ’em, and Sands said the lantern got knocked over accidental like. But Flanders didn’t act much like it was accidental like and Halliday didn’t neither.”
“I guess if it was accidental they were glad it happened,” cried Jack. “And one thing is certain, they didn’t try to put out the fire. They just skipped out and let the place take care of itself.”
“We ought to let Colonel Colby know about this,” said Spouter. “It’s too serious a matter to let go by. Of course, we could accuse Flanders and those other fellows, but what good would it do us?”
“Let’s put it all down in writing and get Jeff to sign it,” suggested Gif.
This was agreed upon, and the boys lost no time in taking down the colored man’s statement. Then they read it to him and he signed it, and they put their names on the paper as witnesses to the signature. Then Jeff shuffled off into the kitchen of the bungalow to get ready for supper.
“I’ll surprise you young gen’lemen, you see if I don’t,” said the colored man. “And I’ll surprise that Mr. Stevenson, too.”
“All right, Jeff,” said Gif, “you can remain here just as long as you make good. The minute you fail in your duties you’ll have to leave.”
It was growing dark when the boys heard the put-put of a motor-boat coming from the lake, and soon the craft rounded a point of the shore and glided up to the bungalow dock.
“Hello, Mr. Stevenson! Glad to see you!” cried Jack, as he ran down to the dock.
“And I’m glad to get here,” answered Ruth’s father, as he leaped from the boat and shook hands. “Great news you fellows sent me.”
“I certainly hope it proves all right,” returned the young major.
“I’m impatient to learn the details,” continued Frederic Stevenson. And then he went on: “How about it, Gif? Can you take care of the man who has the motor-boat? I thought we might be able to use that craft in getting around the lake.”
“Sure, we can,” answered Gif readily. “There are empty rooms galore in this place and we have plenty on hand to eat. We can give you a real treat to-night. We have some bear steaks.”
“Good gracious! did you shoot a bear?” came from the man who ran the motor-boat.
“We sure did!” answered Fred proudly, while the others were shaking hands with the new arrival. “A great big black bear! And we got a wildcat, too!” he continued.
While Jeff was preparing supper the boys gave Ruth’s father the particulars of the interview they had overheard at the old cabin on the other side of Big Bear Lake. Of course, the gentleman was tremendously interested and listened to every word with close attention.
“I believe you’ve solved the mystery of that disappearance,” said he, after they had finished. “Now the only thing to do is to get hold of that book of formulas.”
“Don’t you want to catch Mr. Flanders when he tries to buy the book from those rascals?” asked Spouter. “It seems to me a man who would be mean enough to do that ought to be exposed.”
“It’s just possible that Mr. Flanders may be innocent in the matter,” suggested Mr. Stevenson. “The other men may claim that they brought the book of formulas from Germany direct and that they have a right to it. However, it won’t do any harm to listen to what the men have to say when Flanders appears.”
During the evening the boys related what had taken place during their outing at Big Bear Lake and in return Mr. Stevenson told them something of what Ruth and the other girls had been doing, and of how matters were going with himself and Uncle Barney.
“If I can only get hold of that book of formulas I’ll be all right,” said the gentleman. “Otherwise everything will be at sixes and sevens.”
It was an impatient crowd that went to bed that night, and they were equally impatient after breakfast in the morning, all wanting to see how the affair concerning the book of formulas would terminate. It was not until about ten o’clock that they started for the other side of the lake. They landed at the spot where the boys had been two days before and, leaving the boatman behind, followed the same trail leading to the cabin in the woods.
“Now I suppose we had better hide,” said Mr. Stevenson. “If those men catch sight of us they may run away and we may never be able to catch them.”
With great care they concealed themselves behind some brushwood and there waited for a long time in silence. Some of the boys were just about thinking that the men would never come when they heard voices in the distance.
“Here they are, I think,” whispered Gif. And then Mr. Stevenson put his finger over his lips and all became silent.
Peering through the brushwood, Jack saw that two of the men were Carl Lemrech and Tex Norris. The third individual was short and stocky and his face bore a strong resemblance to that of Tommy Flanders.
“Oh, you needn’t be disturbed, Flanders,” said Carl Lemrech, in his German accent. “We got the goods. It’s the same book that was sold to that man Stevenson.”
“You’d better not mention names around here, Lemrech,” grumbled Mr. Flanders.
“Oh, this is a very lonely place. Nobody ever comes here,” put in Tex Norris.
Thus talking, the three men entered the cabin, leaving the door, however, wide open. There were two windows on one side of the building, and these were open also.
“I’m going forward to investigate,” whispered Mr. Stevenson. “If I give the signal, jump out and point your guns at them. I don’t want any of them to get away.”
“Gee, this is getting real exciting!” murmured Randy. All the boys had brought their weapons with them, but more for a show of arms than for any thought of actually using them.
Mr. Stevenson crawled up toward one of the open windows and Jack and Fred could not resist the temptation to crawl up to the other. The three heard the men inside talking earnestly. Lemrech had made a demand for five thousand dollars and Flanders tried to cut this amount in half.
“No, sir, it’s five thousand dollars or nothing,” growled Lemrech. “Isn’t that so, Tex?”
“It sure is! Five thousand!” answered Norris. “And we want it in cold cash, too! No checks or anything like that!”
“How do you know I’ve got so much cash with me?” demanded Tommy Flanders’ father.
“Well, I told you to bring cash,” answered Carl Lemrech.
“Let me see the book, so that I know it’s all right,” answered Flanders.
“You’ll pay the five thousand in cash?”
“Yes.”
Carl Lemrech paused for a moment and then, going to a corner of the cabin, removed a couple of boards in the flooring. From an opening below he took a heavy tin box. This he unlocked and brought forth a package wrapped in a newspaper.
“Here’s the book,” he said, as he unwrapped the package. “And I want to tell you, Flanders, it contains the best formulas for making artists’ paints that I ever heard of. You ought to make a fortune out of these formulas. You can manufacture those paints for artists in that old factory up on Flat Rock Creek and very few people will be the wiser. You can capture the market with that sort of artists’ material.”
The book was passed over to Flanders and he began to study it carefully.
“Seems to be all right,” he said slowly. “Of course, I don’t— Hello! what’s that? Give me that book!”
Flanders broke off abruptly, for while he had been looking into the book of formulas it had suddenly been snatched from his grasp. Turning, he found himself confronted by Mr. Stevenson.
“This book is mine, Mr. Flanders,” said Ruth’s father coolly.
“Stevenson!” muttered Carl Lemrech, and turned pale.
“A fine piece of business you’re in,” went on Frederic Stevenson. “About to buy a book of formulas that was stolen by those men from me!”
“Jump him! Get the book away from him!” yelled Tex Norris, and made a leap forward.
But Frederic Stevenson had anticipated such a move, and as Norris came on he backed out of the doorway, stuffing the book of formulas into his pocket.
“Up with your hands, every one of you!” he called sternly, as he produced a pistol. Then, turning to the boys, he added: “Don’t let any of them get away.”
All of those in the cabin had come to the doorway, and now they gazed around in bewilderment to find six young fellows in sight and each armed with either a shotgun or a rifle.
“I guess you understand the game is up,” said Mr. Stevenson quietly. “All those young men attend Colby Hall Military Academy and they all know how to shoot. You’ll be safer if you keep your hands up,” and thereupon every hand in the cabin doorway was elevated.
It had been a quick victory, and now that it was over Mr. Stevenson and the boys hardly knew what to do with the three men. In the end, however, each of them was searched and disarmed, and then each had to submit to having his hands bound behind him. In this fashion all were marched down to the lakeshore and made to step into the motor-boat.
“See here, Stevenson, let us settle this matter,” said Mr. Flanders eagerly. “It’s all a mistake, I tell you. These fellows said you were trying to do them out of something that rightfully belonged to them. I’ll give you a thousand dollars to drop the whole matter.”
“Nothing doing, Flanders,” answered Mr. Stevenson briefly. “You can tell your story to the officers of the law.”
The three men were taken to Beldane where a complaint was lodged by Ruth’s father. Then Lemrech and Norris were placed in jail, Flanders being let out on bail.
It may be mentioned here that later on Lemrech and Norris were tried for the theft of the book of formulas and each received a long term in prison. Then Tommy Flanders’ father was tried for his part in the transaction, and it was only by the shrewdness of his lawyers that he finally managed to escape imprisonment. As it was, many felt that he was guilty and refused after that to have anything to do with him.
In the meanwhile, Colonel Colby took up the matter concerning the burning of the boathouse. Tommy Flanders, as well as Paul Halliday and Billy Sands, were terror stricken when confronted with the evidence against them. They, however, insisted that the fire had been an accidental one—that they had simply come to the place to “rough-house” it and perhaps to damage some of the shells. When the lantern had been broken and the scattered oil had blazed up, they had become frightened and run away. Their parents paid for all the damage that had been done and there the matter rested. None of the three boys returned to the camp on Big Bear Lake, and Maxwell, Mason and a number of the others were glad to get rid of them.
“They are altogether too rough for our crowd,” was Ted Maxwell’s comment. “I wish they would leave Longley Academy.”
After the excitement attending the capture of the three men and the exposure of Tommy Flanders and his cronies the Rover boys and their chums put in several weeks more boating and fishing, as well as hunting. They brought down another wildcat, and Randy had the satisfaction of bringing in the biggest fish ever caught in the lake.
“Some adventures we’re having,” declared Jack. But still more stirring times were in store for the boys, and what some of them were will be related in another volume, to be called, “The Rover Boys Shipwrecked; Or, A Thrilling Hunt for Pirates’ Gold.”
During those days Jack got another letter from Ruth in which she said she was very thankful that matters were being straightened out for her father and her Uncle Barney.
Then one day came a surprise for the boys. Two motor-boats came in from Beldane and on them were all the girls, accompanied by Mrs. Stevenson, Mrs. Dick Rover, and Mr. and Mrs. Garrison.
“We’ve come to stay a week!” cried Martha Rover.
“And we expect you to entertain us royally,” came from her cousin Mary.
“We’ll do that, all right enough,” answered Jack quickly, and with his eyes full on Ruth.
“We’ll give you the best times ever!” exclaimed Fred.
“When you go away you’ll say Big Bear Lake is as nice a spot as you ever visited,” put in Randy.
“And you’ll want to come here every year,” finished his twin.
And here while the Rover boys and their chums are getting ready to give the girls a glorious time, we will say good-by.
THE END