"Oh, he only furnished the auto for a consideration. He was under Jasniff's thumb—and now he is down and out, too."
"You say it was the plot of Jasniff and Merwell to get me in their power. Why did they want to do this?"
"If I tell you, Mr. Porter, will you—ahem!—will you prosecute me?" asked Hooker Montgomery, tremblingly.
"I may prosecute you if you don't tell me."
"As I said before, I didn't understand their plot at first. They said it was only a schoolboy trick. But it was not,—as I found out later. It was a villainous plan to get you into serious trouble."
"What trouble?"
"I don't know all of the particulars, but I know some. From that old stone building you were to be taken to some town near by. I heard them say something about breaking into a jewelry factory, and you were to be drugged and left in the factory. I think they were going to make it appear as if you had broken into the factory, and that an explosion to blow open a safe had stunned you."
"Can that be true?" burst from Roger.
"What cold-blooded plotting?" was Phil's comment.
"I can't give you any details, for I was—ahem!—sick at the time and did not quite understand," went on Hooker Montgomery, and Dave reasoned, and rightfully, that he had been under the influence of liquor. "Of course, they'll deny the whole thing. But that is what they plotted to do to you."