CHAPTER XII
GOING STRAIGHT TO HEADQUARTERS
IT was an exhilarating thought that the fellow in the lead of thestrange procession, who was unquestionably a sham reporter, was goingstraight to the headquarters of the whole conspiracy.
Had Ellis been suspicious and looked back, only to behold Tom Halsteadin his wake, it would have been easy enough for the fellow to turnaside from wherever he was going. As it was, however, only unknown HankButts was visible, once in a while, in the chase, and Hank, in overallsand a farmer’s straw hat, didn’t look like anything clever. Moreover,Hank was doing his level best to appear more simple. He went throughthe streets greeting people he knew, or thought he knew, in a carelessfashion. Once they got beyond the town, on a road going eastward, Hankfell back out of sight of Ellis, though still keeping on the trail. Thefirst time it was necessary for this Long Island boy to let himselfbe seen as Ellis turned for a look backward, Hank yanked off his hat,nimbly chasing a butterfly, which he missed.
“This friend of Jed’s knows his business all right,” thought TomHalstead, admiringly, as he followed, just managing to keep in touchwith young Butts, yet wholly behind and out of sight of Ellis. “Hanklooks like a Simple Simon, which, in itself, is almost a sure sign thathe’s no fool.”
After tramping more than a mile down a dusty, lonely country road,Ellis hauled up under a tree, removing his hat and mopping his face.Hank, without shying, went straight on.
“Howdy,” greeted Butts, nonchalantly. Then, sighting another butterfly,he went off after it at full speed, catching this one and wrapping itcarefully in a handkerchief.
“Interested in such things?” asked Ellis, following Hank down the road.
“Yep,” replied young Butts, unconcernedly, “when there’s a foolprofessor in town willing to pay me for such stuff.”
“Oh, you’re collecting ’em for someone else, are you?” Ellis wanted toknow.
“Now, did I say quite that?” asked Hank, with a foolish grin. “Say,mister, I’m minding my business, ain’t I?”
“And you’re a regular boor about it, too,” retorted Ellis, sharply.
“I reckon that’s my business, too, ain’t it?” mocked Hank.
Disgusted with this country bumpkin, as he doubtless consideredhim, Ellis stalked on again. But Hank had accomplished his purpose.Thereafter Ellis, not suspecting him of anything clever, paid no heedto him.
“Hank is as near all right as, anyone I’ve seen,” chuckled TomHalstead, who, having crept close for once, behind the shelter of afringe of sumac bushes, had overheard the talk. “I can trust Jed’sfriend.”
Thereafter Halstead did not take the risk of getting too close. He wassatisfied with keeping track of Hank only.
After more than another mile had been covered, however, Hank cameloping back over the course. Tom stepped aside into the bushes.
“Hsst!” he hailed.
“I knew you’d stop me,” whispered Hank, hauling up short. “And Ithought you’d better know what’s going on ahead. Quite a bit down theroad there’s an auto hauled up at the side, and a feller in it justsignaled the chap you set me to watching. Your feller is hiking forwardto meet the goggles in the auto. What do I do now?”
Captain Tom’s hesitation was brief. He would have liked to ask Hank towait near by, but remembered the fact that young Butts was not in theDelavan confidence. It might be better, on the whole, to send Jed’sfriend back to East Hampton.
“Skip back and aboard the boat,” the young captain directed, hurriedly.“Don’t tell a soul, except Joe Dawson, what you’ve been doing, anddon’t go up into town away from the boat.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” nodded Hank, understandingly. “But don’t stay to watchme out of sight, or your man may skip off in that auto with his gogglesfriend.”
The advice was good. Keeping off the road, crouching low behindthe bushes that fringed the highway, Halstead hastened forward asnoiselessly as he could travel. After going a quarter of a mile heheard the quiet running of an automobile engine.
“Whoever has that car wants to be ready to start on the instant withouteven having to wait to crank up,” throbbed the young skipper, movingmore stealthily than before. Instantly, too, he became more excited,for now he could hear the low hum of voices in conversation.
The noise of the automobile’s engine guided the young motor boatcaptain better than any other sound could have done. Crawling betweenthe bushes, he came, at last, to a point directly opposite the autoat the roadside, and barely more than a score of feet away. Halsteadcrawled to this spot and lay there, securely hidden.
“You’ve done as well as you could, Ellis, no doubt,” a man’s voice wassaying.
“I’m sure of that, Mr. Bolton,” replied the young man. “I’ve made thoseNew York reporters suspicious. I’ve done the trick so strongly, infact, that everyone of them will send his paper a story that will makeWall Street jump in the morning. Even if any of the reporters suspectthat Delavan may be alive, they’ll give some space in their papers tothe hint of remorse and suicide. P. & Y. ought to fall at twenty pointswhen the Stock Exchange opens in the morning.”
“It will,” declared the man addressed as Bolton. “But I hope it willdrop even more than that. The lower P. & Y. goes, Ellis, the better itwill be for me. I want that railroad, and I’m going to get it!”
“Oh, you are, are you?” thought listening Tom Halstead, deeplyinterested.
“But I’m certain you’ll have to get Delavan to a safer place, Mr.Bolton,” continued Ellis, earnestly. “I’m afraid there’ll be a bigsearch for him. You know Moddridge still has a goodish bit of moneythat’s not tied up in his new deals.”
“Moddridge!” sniffed Bolton, contemptuously. “Pooh! That’s the leastof our worries. Moddridge simply won’t do anything—won’t have courageenough, with Delavan out of the way. Moddridge is a feeble-minded idiotof finance.”
“But there are other people who stand to lose heavily through a drop inP. & Y.,” urged Ellis. “Some of them have money enough to hire an armyof detectives and spies. If Delavan is found before P. & Y. touchesbottom price in the market your profits will be much smaller.”
“I know it,” nodded Bolton. “But Delavan simply isn’t going to befound, until I’ve got enough P. & Y. stock at my own figures. Then hecan come back and boost the stock up again—meaning millions in profitsfor Justin Bolton!”
“If you’re absolutely sure he won’t be found before our plans gothrough successfully——” hesitated Ellis.
“Found?” echoed Bolton, with a rough laugh. “Not until I want it,Ellis. See here, this is what I am going to do with Delavan, to-night.”
Some whispered words followed.
“Get him out on the ocean?” cried Ellis, a note of delight in hisvoice. “And keep him out there for days, a close prisoner? Good!Nothing better can be done, if it isn’t traced back to you.”
“Oh, it won’t be,” declared Justin Bolton, with a grunt of conviction.“Ellis, I’m planning this all too deeply. I couldn’t get in on thatSteel business. I don’t know what tips Delavan’s agent got from Gordon,and I don’t know what Delavan and Moddridge started to do in thatdirection. But when I heard that both had pledged their P. & Y. stockwith the bankers I saw at once how to drive the bankers into sellingthe pledged P. & Y. stock to save themselves. And others will sell.There’ll be a panic in Wall Street to-morrow. We’ll pick up the P. &Y. for song-prices. Delavan’s final return will show the folly of thescare. P. & Y. will then go up again, and I’ll clear the millions Iwant. Ellis, you and Rexford won’t be poor men any more after that!”
Inch by inch Tom Halstead had continued to creep forward. He wanted toget a good look at Justin Bolton. He wanted, if possible, to find someway of “catching on behind” the touring car when it rolled away, for inthat manner, he believed, he could find his way direct to imprisonedFrancis Delavan.
Justin Bolton sat alone on the front seat of the machine, Ellis stoodin the roadway, two feet off. Beside Bo
lton dozed an ugly-lookingbull-dog.
One of Tom’s movements under the bushes made a slight sound. Neither ofthe men heard it, but the bull-dog awoke. The animal thrust up its uglyhead, sniffing. Then, with a growl it sprang out of the car, dashinginto the bushes. Tom had only time to hug the ground more closely,praying that he might escape detection. But the bull-dog rushedstraight to the spot of hiding. Too late the young skipper rolled over,to leap to his feet. As he did so, the bull-dog sprang at him. In amoment Tom felt the brute’s teeth at his throat. The teeth did not sinkthrough the skin, but Captain Tom knew that the least movement to shakeoff the animal would cause those strong jaws to fasten.
Ellis dashed into the bushes after the dog.
“What’s wrong?” shouted Justin Bolton, in a voice of alarm.
“Wrong?” echoed Ellis, glaring down at the hapless young motor boatskipper. “Everything on the list is wrong! Your dog has caught thecaptain of Delavan’s boat. And the infernal young meddler must haveheard every word of our talk!”