“We could have taken care of our finances very nicely if this hold-up had not occurred,” said Tom Rover. “You see, we have other securities and on those we could raise a loan. But now we may have to sacrifice those, and that will entail a heavy loss because I’m sure the securities are going up in value and ought to be kept.”
“Dad, you said in your telegram that you wanted to question us,” broke in Jack. “What was it you wanted to know?”
“We’ve been thinking that it is possible this hold-up was engineered by some of our old enemies who may be in cahoots with some real bandits. We were thinking that possibly you might know of something that would throw light on the subject.”
“We have seen Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell in an automobile in the vicinity of Valley Brook Farm and one night the girls declared they saw Slugger Brown looking in at one of the windows.”
“Is that so! That sounds interesting.”
“I can see how that might fit in,” came from Sam Rover.
“How could that fit in with a hold-up down here?” questioned Andy, in wonder.
“In this way,” answered the twins’ father. “Your uncles and I all received fake messages taking us away from the offices when the hold-up occurred. Your Aunt Dora also received a fake message taking her away from home. That looks to me as if it was planned to keep as many of us away from the offices as possible. That being so, perhaps Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell were hired by some others—maybe their own fathers—to watch you fellows and report if you intended to come back here. It’s just possible that they may have had orders to try to detain you if you started for New York. They must know that when you’re in the city you’re frequent visitors at the offices and would raise an alarm at once if you happened to get down there and found the place locked up during business hours or got there just before the hold-up took place.”
“There might be something in that,” said Jack slowly. Thereupon the boys gave a few particulars concerning the appearance of their enemies in the vicinity of the farm and then asked for more particulars concerning the hold-up.
The talk did not come to an end until dinner was announced. Then the various families separated, agreeing to come together again in Tom’s library after the repast was over.