You've been a mighty long time investigating matters," grumbled Joe Fletcher, poking his head over the seat when he heard his chum's voice, for he had retired to the interior of the wagon to keep warm.
"Perhaps I have," replied Dick, as he climbed up to his perch and started the team. "But I guess I'll surprise you when I tell you what I've seen and heard."
"Well, I'm ready to hear the story," said Joe, with mingled impatience and curiosity.
"Of course you've heard of William Fairclough, who keeps a stock farm at Walkhill," began Dick.
"Sure I have."
"And you've also heard he has a brother named Adam, who lives on the outskirts of Jayville, which is six miles from here."
"Yes, the folks in Walkhill call him Miser Fairclough."
"You've got it right. He occupies an old mansion, built some time before the Revolutionary War. He bought the place for a song, I heard, about forty years ago. Well, there's a scheme on foot to rob old Fairclough to-night, and it's up to us to head it off."
"Rob the miser!" exclaimed Joe, in astonishment.
"Exactly. He has been decoyed away to Walkhill by a bogus letter, which informed him that his brother William is dead."
"Gee! You don't mean it!"
"I overheard a large part of the scheme by listening just outside of the kitchen door that opens on the entry."
"Then it was a gang of robbers you found at the house?" said Joe, in open-mouthed wonder.
"I found a man and two boys," answered Dick. "But before I say anything more we'll unharness the team and make them comfortable for the night."
The two boys lost no time getting the horses into the barn and putting before them a plentiful supply of oats.
"Did you ever run across a fellow named Tim Bunker in Walkhill?" asked Dick, taking up the thread of his story again, as he dived into their provision hamper and fished up a couple of egg sandwiches, one of which he handed to his chum, with the remark that time was precious and that was all he might expect to eat for some hours.
"I've heard of Tim Bunker," said Joe, with a nod, as they walked toward the road. "He's a hard nut. What about him?"
"He's mixed up in this affair."
"Is that so? Can't say I'm much surprised."
"And who do you imagine the other boy to be?"
"I couldn't guess."
"No, I don't think you could. Don't fall down, now, when I tell you. It is Luke Maslin."
"Luke Maslin!" exclaimed Joe, stopping stock still in the middle of the road.
"Yes, Luke Maslin," repeated Dick, enjoying his friend's astonishment. "He's in pretty bad company."
"Why, what's he doing 'way down here, thirty miles from the Corner?"
"That's what surprised me at first, but from what Tim Bunker said in the kitchen while I was taking it all in from behind the door, I've got a pretty clear idea of the way Luke has got himself into this pickle. It seems he did take that five dollars out of his father's money-drawer that I was accused of stealing."
"I guessed he was the thief," nodded Joe, conclusively.
"Then he foolishly boasted of it to Tim Bunker, thinking he had done a clever thing. Now it looks as if Tim took advantage of this knowledge to force Luke to join him and the man Mudgett in the enterprise they have in hand without letting him know exactly what they intended to do."
"What makes you think he didn't know?"
"Because it looked to me as if they'd just been explaining the real situation to him before I came on the scene, for he was kicking against it like a mule."
"He was, eh?"
"Yes. Mudgett and Tim Bunker were sharp enough to put Luke in a tight box before they took him into their confidence."
"How?"
"They had him deliver the decoy note to Adam Fairclough. It was a mean trick, for it implicates Luke in the job, as they intended it should. That puts him completely in their power, don't you see?"
"I wouldn't be in his shoes for a mint," said Joe as they turned into the road leading to Jayville. "But it serves him right for stealing that money from his father, and then when it come out letting you shoulder all the blame. He wouldn't have opened his mouth to clear you if you'd been arrested for the theft and put in the village lock-up," he added indignantly.
"I guess you're right," admitted his chum.
"Of course I'm right. Didn't he give you away to his father the moment he spied you hid down in the hold of the canal-boat?"
"He certainly did, and I think I could have thrashed him for it if I'd had the chance. I felt like doing it."
"And my fists just tingled to get a rap at him, too," blurted Joe.
"He's in a pretty bad hole now, all right. If we can prevent this burglary to-night, it is possible we can save him from some of the consequences of his foolishness."
"I shouldn't think you'd care to waste much consideration on a fellow who for years treated you as mean as Luke has done," said Joe, in some surprise.
"I don't say he deserves anything of me, but still I'm willing to do what I can to save him from going to prison," said Dick, generously.
"Well, I don't know what you expect to do. You're the captain and I'm going it blind after you. But if you've a scheme for catching these fellows, and we do catch them, I suppose Luke could turn State's evidence and escape the penalty."
"Very likely."
"I'm sorry you are getting mixed up in this matter," said Joe, gloomily.
"Why so?" said Dick, looking at his companion in surprise. "You wouldn't stand off and allow that old man to be robbed when you might be able to prevent it, would you?"
"I don't mean that; but you forget that we are liable to be detained as witnesses if a capture is made, and that will give Silas Maslin a chance to get hold of you again."
Dick stopped short and regarded his chum for a moment in silence.
He had not thought of that unpleasant contingency.
"This will make a slight change in my plans," he said, suddenly. "I intended to get help to tackle these fellows, but I think now it will do as well if we succeed in scaring them off. I'm satisfied if we can put a spoke in their wheel, and it will do away with the difficulty you mentioned."
To this plan Joe agreed with alacrity.
The sky, which had been overcast up to this point, now began to show through here and there in patches.
And ere long the imprisoned moon sailed into these spaces, and her light occasionally illuminated the landscape.
One of these spells of moonshine showed the boys the distant spire of the Jayville Methodist Church and the roofs of many of the houses.
"The Fairclough mansion is over yonder," said Dick, pointing in the direction. "I remember Mr. Maslin pointing it out to me a year ago, when we drove down here one day on business. We'll cut across this meadow and save at least two miles by the road."
On the other side of the field was a clump of trees.
Dick pointed out a couple of branches that would make stout cudgels, and he and Joe were presently in possession of a pair of serviceable weapons.
As they cautiously drew near the Revolutionary relic they made out three indistinct figures hovering about the building.
Suddenly the figures clustered about a rear window that was high above their reach, and Dick and Joe saw one of them mount on the shoulders of the other two and commence operations by splintering the glass with a blow of some implement.
At that interesting juncture the boys' ears caught the sound of approaching wheels, and before they realized what was about to happen a miserable-looking buggy, drawn by a thin, bony mare, dashed into the unkempt driveway and rattled up to the porch.
The occupant of the ramshackle vehicle showed up in the moonlight to be an old man of at least eighty years, wrapped in a faded green overcoat, with a comforter of some indescribable color tucked about his throat, the ends floating in the night air.
His approach had been discovered by the would-be burglars, and the two who had formed the base of the pyramid that had just boosted the third through the fractured window, rushed around to the front of the house and attacked the old man from two sides.
"That must be Adam Fairclough," explained Dick, he and Joe springing to their feet. "He must have met somebody on the road who told him that his brother wasn't dead, and thus aroused his suspicions that something was wrong at this end of the business, and so he came right back. Those rascals may kill him if we don't interfere, Joe. So, come on. Let's take them by surprise."
Thereupon both boys leaped the fence and, flourishing their cudgels, rushed to the rescue.