“Yes, that’s gone, and I suppose I ought to be satisfied with the price she got,” spoke the tall lad. “But, somehow, I can’t get over the notion that there’s something back of it all. Those fellows weren’t square and above-board, I’m positive of that.”
“Do you mean they cheated you?” asked Bob.
“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say that,” replied Jerry, slowly. “They paid mother what they agreed to; but it was their veiled threats as to what they’d do if she didn’t sell that made me mad. They practically forced her to dispose of that land, though I’m not saying but what the condition of her money matters might not have made her sell it anyhow.”
“But I’ve a notion I’d like to see how things are going out there, and whether those fellows are really draining the place as they said they were. Come on. It won’t take long to go there in the boat, and then we’ll make the trip to Bellport in the auto.”
“I’m with you,” assented Ned. “Only you know your mother doesn’t own any land there now, and we may be ordered off as trespassers.”
“I’ll take that chance,” returned Jerry.
A little later, in the motor boat, they were winding their way up Cabbage Creek.
“It hasn’t changed much,” observed Bob, as they came within sight of the swamp. “There’s as much muddy water as ever, in spite of their drainage ditches.”
“I’m not so sure they were drainage ditches,” observed Jerry, who was at the wheel.
The boat swung around a bend in the sluggish stream, and as it did so Ned uttered a cry.