"Humph!" jeered Evarts. "Then what would your directors do if they knew that—-."
"Stop!" begged Mr. Bascomb hoarsely, "Don't say a word further, man! Sometimes even the leaves on the trees have ears. Don't breathe a word of what you were going to say just now."
Even in the dark the two concealed watchers could see that Bascomb was glancing about him nervously.
"Now, what is up?" gasped Tom inwardly. "What part has Mr. Bascomb been playing in this mystery that he's so afraid of having become public?"
CHAPTER XXI
EVARTS HEARS A NOISE
"I won't shut up," proclaimed Evarts.
"I don't care who hears me."
"But I care," protested the president, in a trembling voice.
"Then you'll have to reward me for whatever silence you want," snarled the wretch.