“Yes, they were the leaders in the quarrel,” answered Dunston Porter. “Bopeppo was particularly furious, and one day threatened to strike Mr. Basswood. I stopped him, and told him if he didn’t behave himself I’d have him placed under arrest. Vazala was also very vindictive, he asserting, along with Mother Domoza, that they had the right to occupy the land as long as they pleased.”
“Then it is more than likely that Bopeppo and Vazala, assisted by Mother Domoza and perhaps by Nick Jasniff, are guilty of this kidnapping,” went on our hero.
“We had figured it out that way—of course leaving out Jasniff.”
“Have you any sample of the handwriting of Bopeppo or Vazala?” asked Roger. “If you have you might compare them with the note sent to Mr. Wadsworth.”
“We have managed to get one note written by Bopeppo, and we have two samples of Vazala’s signature. But neither of them seem to be in the handwriting used in the note,” answered Dave’s father.
“Then it would seem as if the note had been written by somebody else!” cried Dave. “How about Mother Domoza?”
“We don’t believe the old hag can read or write English.”
“I’d like to see the note,” said Roger. Thereupon the communication was brought forth and the two young civil engineers scanned it very closely.
“I wish I could remember Nick Jasniff’s handwriting, but I can’t,” said Roger. “How about it, Dave?”
“If my memory serves me, he wrote rather a heavy hand,” answered our hero. “But I am not willing to say whether this is in his style or not. This looks to me as if it was a disguised hand, for it is very irregular.”