“I would like to lay my hands on that rascal if he tried to do anything to my mother!” cried Jack, his eyes flashing. “I would like to hammer the daylights out of him!”
“I guess we’d all like to do that,” came from Fred.
“Maybe we’d better stay at home instead of going on any trip,” said Randy. “We might be needed in case Davenport tried anything on the girls or mother or the others.”
“No. We have talked the matter over, and we have made another arrangement,” said Dick Rover. He walked to the door, looked out into the room beyond, and then closed the door carefully. Then he walked to the windows, to see that no one might be outside listening.
“I’m beginning to think we have to be very careful,” he went on in a lower tone of voice. “For all we know there may be a spy in the house. We have two new servants, you know; and while I think they are all right, we cannot afford at this stage of the game to take any chances.”
“The idea is this,” said Tom Rover, as his older brother paused. “You boys are to go out West with me, keeping the matter as quiet as possible. We won’t even let any one know the exact time we’re going to start. When we go Uncle Dick and Uncle Sam will look after the girls and their mothers and your Aunt Nellie.”
“Will they stay here?” asked Fred rather anxiously.
“No. We have already arranged for a trip. They are going down the coast on a private yacht owned by Stanley Browne.”
“Oh, you mean the gentleman who is a cousin of Colonel Colby and who was your chum at Brill College!” interrupted Jack.