“Oh, Dave, you must be more careful!” cried 80 Jessie, after he had told of the encounter in the woods. “That wicked fellow might kill you!” and she shuddered.
“Yes indeed, you ought to be careful,” said Laura. “Why, he seems to be almost as bad as Merwell and Jasniff were!”
“So he is, Laura. And if I ever get the chance I’ll put him where they are––in prison,” answered the brother grimly.
As was to be expected, Dave was quite worked up over what had occurred, and that night he did not sleep very well. Both his father and his sister insisted that he go to a physician and have his ear examined.
“No damage done, so far as I can see,” said the doctor. “But you had better bathe it with witch-hazel and keep it warm for a day or two.”
The next day Dave settled down to his studies as well as he was able. He hoped that word might come in that Ward Porton had been captured, but in this he was disappointed.
“I think he’ll steer clear of this neighborhood, for a while at least,” was Mr. Porter’s comment.
“That’s just my idea,” added Dave’s Uncle Dunston. “He must know that a great many swindled storekeepers and other people are on the watch for him.”
Dave had not seen Ben Basswood for several days. On the following evening the son of the 81 real estate dealer came hurrying over to the Wadsworth mansion.
“We’ve got news about that Mr. Enos’s estate!” cried Ben, as soon as he met Dave and Roger. “It’s the queerest thing you ever heard of. Mother doesn’t know what to make of it, and I don’t know what to make of it, either.”