“No, I went after Mrs. Stanhope.”
“Then she is—is gone?” faltered Dick. He could scarcely speak the words.
“Yes. But how did you guess it?” And Anderson Rover’s tones showed his surprise.
“Tell me first where she went, and how?” demanded Dick, impatiently.
“We don’t know how she went, or just when. It is most mysterious all the way through. Dora is nearly frantic, for she did not know her mother was going. We followed her up and learned that she had crossed the lake in company with some man who wore a heavy, black beard and dark goggles.”
“It must have been Josiah Crabtree,” cried Dick, and then, in as few words as possible, he told of the meeting with Dan Baxter and what the young commercial traveler had revealed.
“Yes! yes! that must be the truth of it!” said Anderson Rover. “And Crabtree must have been the one who aided in getting the fortune from the bank where it was being kept.”
“Never mind the money, dad, just now. Tell me about Mrs. Stanhope.”
“I can’t tell you any more, Dick. I went across the lake in a launch, but I could get no trace of her on the other side. Now I am going back to the Stanhope house, and send Dora over to the Lanings. I want you to come up here the first thing in the morning,” added Mr. Rover.
“I’ll be up, and so will Sam and Tom,” answered Dick, and then after a few words more the telephone talk came to an end.