The Essential Edward Stratemeyer Collection. Stratemeyer Edward
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"And we know all about what you are trying to do," added Dave.
"This is a plot--a plot against me--to ruin me!" spluttered the former teacher of Oak Hall. "Oh, you needn't try to disguise it! I know all of you!"
"We have no plot against you, Mr. Haskers," replied Dave, calmly. "If your business is perfectly legitimate----"
"Never mind about that!" interposed Job Haskers, hastily. He jammed the paper and his fountain pen in his pocket. "You can't make a fool of me! You have been following me up, and you mean to--to--do what you can to--er--get me into trouble." He backed towards the doorway.
"What is your hurry, sir?" asked Mr. Passmore, and he quietly placed himself in front of the door.
"Let me pass! Let me pass!" shrilled Job Haskers, and now he looked thoroughly scared.
"Don't you wish to talk this matter over?" questioned Mr. Fordham, wonderingly.
"No, sir. I am not going to stay here to be made a fool of!" cried the former instructor. "Let me pass, I demand it!" he added, to Bert's father.
"Oh, all right, if you insist," answered Mr. Passmore, and stepped aside. At once Job Haskers threw the door open and retreated to the hallway.
"Just wait, you young scamps! I'll get even with you for this!" he exclaimed, shaking a long finger at Dave, Roger, and Phil. "I'll show you yet! You just wait!" And with that threat he literally ran down the hallway and down the stairs and out of the hotel.
"Say, he's some mad, believe me!" was Roger's grim comment.
"I think he is more scared than anything else," returned Dave. "He acted as if he thought we had trapped him in some way."
"Just how it struck me," put in Phil. "He certainly didn't lose any time in getting away, did he?" and the shipowner's son grinned broadly.
"He had a guilty conscience," was Mr. Passmore's comment. "Mr. Fordham, I think you can congratulate yourself that he has left."
"I think so myself, sir," replied the old gentleman. He looked kindly at Dave and his chums. "It looks to me as if you had saved me from being swindled," he continued. "If he had a fair sort of a proposition I think he would have stayed."
"I think so myself," added Mr. Passmore. "Just the same, supposing I look into this Sunset Company for you?"
"As you please, Mr. Passmore. But I doubt if I care to invest--after what I have heard and seen of this fellow, Haskers," answered the old gentleman.
The matter was talked over a little more and then the boys and Bert's father departed, first, however, receiving the warm thanks of Mr. Fordham for what they had done. In the foyer of the hotel the chums fell in with Bert.
"Say, I saw that Haskers fellow shoot out of the hotel in a mighty hurry," he said. "You must have made it hot for him."
"We did," answered Dave. "Where did he go?"
"Up the lake road, as fast as he could walk."
"I wonder where he is stopping?" mused Phil.
"We might take the auto and follow him?" suggested the senator's son. "There is no hurry about our getting home."
"Let's do it!" cried Dave, for he was as curious as the others concerning the former teacher of Oak Hall.
"If you don't mind I'll go along," said Bert.
So it was arranged, and letting Mr. Passmore know of their plans they soon got ready for the trip.
"Now, don't get into any trouble," warned the rug dealer, as they were about to depart. "That fellow Haskers may be like a rat--very ugly when cornered."
"We'll keep our eyes open," answered Dave.
Soon the touring-car was rolling over the lake road, in the direction Job Haskers had taken. The storm had left the road a trifle muddy in spots, but that was all. Overhead the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly.
Less than a quarter of a mile was covered when those in the touring-car saw a figure ahead they knew to be Job Haskers. He was walking along more slowly now, his head bent down as if in deep thought.
"I suppose he is trying to figure out what to do next," was Phil's comment. "Wants to locate another sucker--if he can."
"Such a man ought to be in jail," said Bert "He may rob some poor fellow and do it in a legal way, too,--so that the man won't be able to get back at him."
Roger had slowed down, so that the touring-car kept well behind the former teacher. Presently the boys saw Haskers turn up a side road, one that led to a small hotel, standing on a hill overlooking the lake.
"He's going to the Fenton House," said Bert. "Maybe he is stopping there."
"Possibly," returned Dave.
Slowly following the man, they saw Job Haskers enter the hotel and walk in the direction of the reading-room. Roger stopped the car and turned to the others.
"Well, what's the next move?" he asked. "Want to go in?"
"What's the use?" asked Phil. "We'd only have a lot of words with him. He's got a right to stay here if he wants to."
"Let's go in anyway," said Dave. "You must know somebody here," he continued, turning to Bert.
"Oh, yes, I know several young fellows and girls," answered the lad who was spending the summer at the lake.
"Then we can pretend to be calling on them," put in Roger.
Leaving the touring-car standing in the road, the four youths entered the hotel. They glanced into the reading-room, and noted that over a dozen persons were present. Then Dave gave a low cry.
"Look, boys! What do you think of that?"
He pointed to one corner of the reading-room, where two persons sat on a leather couch, one with a newspaper in his hand.
"Why, it's Link Merwell!" gasped Phil. "Merwell as sure as you're born!"
"How did that rascal get here?" murmured Roger.
"Who is it?" asked Bert, curiously.
"That fellow who is on the couch with Haskers," whispered Dave. "He used to go to school with us at Oak Hall, and then he had to leave, and after that he and a fellow named Jasniff robbed Mr. Wadsworth's jewelry works."
"Oh, yes, Roger told me about that. You fellows followed the rascals to Cave Island, didn't you?"
"Yes, and we caught Jasniff, but Merwell got away."
"Then why not have him locked up right now?" demanded Bert.
"It's what we ought to do," declared Phil.
"Haskers and Merwell must be in with each other," was Dave's comment. "Maybe Merwell is trying to sell some of that Sunset Company stock, too."
"Wonder if we can't hear what they are saying?" said Roger. "It might help us to make out a case against them."
"We can go around to that side window and listen," suggested Phil, and pointed to the window in question.
This was quickly agreed upon, and the four boys left the hotel and walked out on a gravel path close to the window. As the day was warm, the window was wide open.
"No, it was a frost!" they heard Job Haskers say, in harsh tones.
"He wouldn't buy the stock?" queried Link Merwell.
"Worse than that, Merwell. I was trapped, and I had all I could do to