“Maybe the prisons are overcrowded and they have to let some of the old prisoners out in order to let the new ones in,” suggested Randy.
“We’ll keep our eyes open,” said Fred, and after Phil Franklin had left he continued: “You know what I think? I think we had better let the girls know of this.”
“You don’t suppose Davenport would bother Mary and Martha, do you?” asked Randy.
“I don’t know what he’d do. A rascal like that is apt to do almost anything.”
“Maybe Davenport just came up this way on business, or something like that,” suggested Andy lightly. “He’s got to do something for a living, you know. He sunk about all the money he could rake and scrape up in those oil wells that went dry.”
“I think Fred is right, and we had better let the girls know,” decided Jack thoughtfully. “Of course, we don’t want to alarm them too much; but it’s better to warn them so they can keep their eyes open if Davenport does show up.”
“We can’t telephone—it might scare ’em stiff,” said Fred. “Let’s get permission to go over there this evening. We can get Hicks to run us over in a car.”
So it was arranged, and the boys spent half an hour with the Rover girls and with Ruth Stevenson and May Powell.
“Who ever heard of such a thing!” exclaimed Martha. “Whatever do you suppose the man is up to, Jack?”