All of those in the cabin had come to the doorway, and now they gazed around in bewilderment to find six young fellows in sight and each armed with either a shotgun or a rifle.
“I guess you understand the game is up,” said Mr. Stevenson quietly. “All those young men attend Colby Hall Military Academy and they all know how to shoot. You’ll be safer if you keep your hands up,” and thereupon every hand in the cabin doorway was elevated.
It had been a quick victory, and now that it was over Mr. Stevenson and the boys hardly knew what to do with the three men. In the end, however, each of them was searched and disarmed, and then each had to submit to having his hands bound behind him. In this fashion all were marched down to the lakeshore and made to step into the motor-boat.
“See here, Stevenson, let us settle this matter,” said Mr. Flanders eagerly. “It’s all a mistake, I tell you. These fellows said you were trying to do them out of something that rightfully belonged to them. I’ll give you a thousand dollars to drop the whole matter.”
“Nothing doing, Flanders,” answered Mr. Stevenson briefly. “You can tell your story to the officers of the law.”
The three men were taken to Beldane where a complaint was lodged by Ruth’s father. Then Lemrech and Norris were placed in jail, Flanders being let out on bail.
It may be mentioned here that later on Lemrech and Norris were tried for the theft of the book of formulas and each received a long term in prison. Then Tommy Flanders’ father was tried for his part in the transaction, and it was only by the shrewdness of his lawyers that he finally managed to escape imprisonment. As it was, many felt that he was guilty and refused after that to have anything to do with him.
In the meanwhile, Colonel Colby took up the matter concerning the burning of the boathouse. Tommy Flanders, as well as Paul Halliday and Billy Sands, were terror stricken when confronted with the evidence against them. They, however, insisted that the fire had been an accidental one—that they had simply come to the place to “rough-house” it and perhaps to damage some of the shells. When the lantern had been broken and the scattered oil had blazed up, they had become frightened and run away. Their parents paid for all the damage that had been done and there the matter rested. None of the three boys returned to the camp on Big Bear Lake, and Maxwell, Mason and a number of the others were glad to get rid of them.
“They are altogether too rough for our crowd,” was Ted Maxwell’s comment. “I wish they would leave Longley Academy.”
After the excitement attending the capture of the three men and the exposure of Tommy Flanders and his cronies the Rover boys and their chums put in several weeks more boating and fishing, as well as hunting. They brought down another wildcat, and Randy had the satisfaction of bringing in the biggest fish ever caught in the lake.