“Old Hiram Beegle was murdered last night in his cabin!” cried Ned.
CHAPTER IV
WOODEN LEG
Suspecting that his chums were playing some joke on him, though he thought this rather a poor subject for humor, and believing that Harry and Ned wanted to get a rise out of him, Bob Dexter did not at once show the astonishment that was expected. Instead he merely smiled and remarked:
“Hop in! If I believe that I s’pose you’ll tell me another!”
“Say, this is straight!” cried Ned.
“No kidding!” added Harry. “The old man was killed last night. You know who we mean—Rip Van Winkle—the old codger you took over to Storm Mountain in this very flivver.”
“Yes, I know, who you mean all right,” assented Bob. “But who told you he was killed? How, why, when, where and all the rest of it?”
“We didn’t hear any of the particulars,” explained Harry. “But Chief Drayton, of the Storm Mountain police force—guess he’s the whole force as a matter of fact—Drayton just came over here to get our chief to help solve the mystery.”
“Oh, then there’s a mystery about it, is there?” asked Bob, and his chums noticed that he at once began to pay close attention to what they were saying.