CHAPTER XVI
MR. MATSON IS ALARMED
Joe Matson did not know what to do. He wanted to rush away from where hewas concealed, get home as quickly as possible, and tell his father whathe had overheard. While Mr. Matson's name had not been mentioned,knowing, as Joe did, that his parent was engaged on some patents, seeingMr. Benjamin, manager of the Harvester works, and having heard theconversation between him and Mr. Holdney, the lad was almost certainthat some danger threatened his father.
"And yet I can't get away from here until they're well out of sight,"reasoned Joe. "If I go now they'll see or hear me, and they'll be boundto suspect something. Yet I'd like to warn dad as soon as I can. There'sno telling when they may put up some job against him."
But Joe could only crouch down there and wait.
At length he could stand it no longer. He reasoned that the men must befar enough away by this time to make it safe for him to emerge.
"They're on the road to Riverside," thought Joe, "and I may run intothem, but if I see them I can slip into the fields and go around. Mr.Benjamin doesn't know me, for he's hardly ever noticed me when I've beento the Harvester works to see dad. But Mr. Holdney might remember me. Ican't take any chances."
Cautiously he emerged from the bushes, and looked as far down the roadas he could. There was no one in sight, and he started off. A littledistance farther on, the road made a sharp turn and, just at the anglestood an old barn which hid the rest of the highway from sight until onewas right at the turn. It was a dangerous place for vehicles, but theowner of the barn had refused to set it back.
No sooner had Joe turned this corner than he came full upon Mr. Benjaminand Mr. Holdney standing just around the barn, apparently in deepconversation. At the sight of Joe they looked up quickly, and Mr.Benjamin exclaimed:
"Ha! Perhaps this lad can tell us. We want to hire a carriage. Do youknow any one around here who would let us take one for a short time?"
Joe, who had started back at the unexpected sight of the two men, tookcourage on hearing this, and realizing that he had not yet beenrecognized.
"I don't know any one around here," he said. "I'm pretty much of astranger myself, but have you tried at this farmhouse?" and he pointedtoward the one where the owner of the barn lived.
"Oh, we don't want a farm horse!" exclaimed Mr. Holdney. "We wantsomething that has some speed." Then, as he looked more fully at Joe heexclaimed: "Haven't I seen you somewhere before, my lad? I'm sure Ihave!"
He took a step toward our hero, and Joe's heart gave a flutter. He wasalmost certain that Mr. Holdney would recognize him and then the nextstep would be to ask where he had been. The men might at once suspectthat he had at least come past the place where they had been talking insecret, and they might even suspect that he had listened to them. Joewas in a predicament.
"I'm sure I've met you somewhere before," went on Mr. Holdney, in hisquick, nervous tones. "Do you live around here?"
"Yes," answered Joe vaguely. "But I don't know where you could get afast horse unless it's in town--in Riverside."
He was about to pass on, hoping the men would not further bother him,when Mr. Holdney, coming a step nearer, said with great firmness:
"I'm sure I've seen you before. What's your name?"
Like a flash a way out of it came to Joe, and that without telling anuntruth.
"I play on the Silver Stars," he said quickly. "You may have seen me atsome of the games," which was perfectly possible.
"That's it!" exclaimed Mr. Holdney. "I knew it was somewhere. Now----"
"I'm going into Riverside," went on Joe quickly. "If you like I'll stopat the livery stable and tell them to send out a rig for you if you wantto wait here for it."
"The very thing!" exclaimed Mr. Benjamin. "Let him do that, Rufus.Here's a quarter to pay for your trouble, my lad."
"No, thank you!" exclaimed Joe with a laugh. "I'm glad to do you afavor."
"All right," assented Mr. Benjamin. "If you'll send out a two-seatedcarriage and a man to drive it we'll be obliged to you. Then we candrive over and see Duncan," he added to Mr. Holdney. "We'll fix thisthing all up now."
"Yes, and if it's my father you're trying to 'fix,'" mused Joe, "I'll domy best to put a stop to it. Now, it's up to me to hurry home," andtelling the men that he would do the errand for them, the lad hastenedoff down the road, leaving the two conspirators in earnest conversation.
The livery stable keeper readily agreed to send out the carriage, andthen Joe lost no time in hurrying to his house.
"Has father come home yet?" he asked of his mother, for sometimes Mr.Matson came from the harvester works earlier than the regular stoppingtime.
"No," answered Mrs. Matson, "why, what is the matter, Joe? Has anythinghappened?" for she noticed by his face that something out of the usualhad occurred.
"Oh, I don't know," he answered slowly. He was revolving in his mindwhether or not he ought to tell his mother. Then, as he recollected thathis father always consulted her on business matters, he decided that hewould relate his experience.
"Mother," he said, "isn't father interested in some sort of a patentabout corn?"
"About corn? Oh, I know what you mean. Yes, he is working on animprovement to a corn reaper and binder. It is a machine partly owned bythe harvester people, but he expects to make considerable money byperfecting the machine. It is very crude now, and doesn't do good work."
"And if he does perfect it, and some one gets the patents away fromhim, he _won't_ make the money!" exclaimed Joe.
"Joe, what do you mean?" cried his mother in alarm. "I am sure somethinghas happened. What is it?"
"It hasn't happened yet, but it may any time," answered the lad, andthen he told of what he had overheard, and his ideas of what waspending.
"That's why I wanted to see father in a hurry, to warn him," heconcluded.
"Joe, I believe you're right!" exclaimed Mrs. Matson. "Your father oughtto be told at once. I don't know what he can do--if anything--to preventthese men getting ahead of him. Oh, it's too bad! I know he alwayssuspected Mr. Benjamin of not being strictly honest, but Mr. Holdneyused to be his friend and on several occasions has loaned your fathermoney. Oh, this is too bad, but perhaps it isn't too late. If I were youI'd go down toward the harvester works and you may meet father cominghome. Then you can tell him all about it, and he may want to go back andget some of his papers, or parts of the machine, from his office sothose men can't take them."
"That's the very thing, mother!" cried Joe. "You ought to have been aman--or a boy and a baseball player! You can think so quickly. Thatreminds me; I had quite an experience to-day. Just say 'apple sauce' tome when I get back, and I'll tell you all about it."
"It can't be possible!" exclaimed Mr. Matson, when Joe, having met himjust outside the harvester works, told him of what he had heard. "Ithardly seems possible that they would do such a thing. But I'm glad youtold me, Joe."
"Do you think they meant you, dad? I didn't hear them mention yourname."
"Of course they meant me!" declared Mr. Matson. "The warning came justin time, too, for only to-day I finished an important part of themachinery and the pattern of it is in my office now. I must go back andget it. Wait here for me."
As Joe stood at the outer gate of the big harvester plant he heard thesound of a carriage approaching, and turning around he saw Mr. Benjaminand Mr. Holdney coming along in the rig Joe had had sent out to themonly a little while before.
"I thought better to drive back here first, and go see Duncan later,"Mr. Benjamin was saying, and then both men caught sight of our hero.