The Rover Boys in New York | Page 8

if he did, that man who came to see him at the jail had the car,"
added Sam.
"Just what I think," cried Tom. "Well, if he got away in an auto there is
no use of our looking for him here," he added, with a sigh.
Nevertheless, the boys hung around Plankville for an hour longer. Then
they got aboard of the Dartaway, and with Tom at the wheel, and Dick
with a pair of field glasses to his eyes, swung in several circles about
the neighborhood.
"No use," declared the oldest Rover boy, at last. "It is getting late. We
might as well return to college. We can do nothing here."
"Haven't we got time to go to Hope?" asked Sam, a bit wistfully.
"Well, I don't know," answered his big brother, just as wistfully.
"Let us take time-- Doctor Wallington didn't want us to hurry back,"
put in Tom. "I think the girls ought to know about this, so as to be on
guard, in case old Crabtree tries to molest them again."
As the lads were all of one mind, the biplane was headed in the
direction of Hope. As before, the flying machine swung through the air
at a good rate of speed, and half an hour before sundown they came in
sight of the Seminary buildings.
"Wonder where they are?" mused Dick, as the biplane came to earth at
the spot where they had landed before.
"If they are around they must have heard us," answered Tom. "The
engine makes noise enough to wake the dead." And this was well
expressed, for the motor, like many of the flying machine kind, had no
muffler attached, and the explosions were not unlike the firing of a
gatling gun.
Some girls had seen them come down, and presently the boys saw three
figures hurrying towards them.

"Oh, what made you come so late?" cried Grace, as she rushed up and
shook hands with Sam and then with the others.
"We thought you might come to-day," put in Nellie, as she beamed on
Tom, and extended both hands.
"I heard the machine first," declared Dora, and came straight to Dick,
who did not hesitate to give her the hearty kiss to which he thought his
engagement entitled him.
"We have been to Plankville," came from Tom and Sam, in a breath.
"Have you heard the news?" questioned their big brother, and he
looked anxiously from Dora to her cousins.
"What news?" cried Dora, quickly. "We have heard nothing unusual."
"Josiah Crabtree broke out of the Plankville jail and ran away."
"Oh, Dick!" and Dora grew suddenly pale. "Do you really mean it?"
"When was this?" demanded Nellie.
"Tell us all about it," supplemented Grace.
"We can't tell you any more than what we have heard," answered Sam.
"We just got word ourselves this morning."
Then the boys told their story and answered innumerable questions
which the girls put to them.
"This will be bad news for mother," said Dora, to Dick. "She is afraid
of Josiah Crabtree, and always has been-- because of his strange
hypnotic power."
"I don't think he will dare to show himself-- at least, not for a while,
Dora," he answered. "He knows only too well that the jail is waiting to
receive him."

"That strange man with the bushy eyebrows and the pointed chin must
have helped him to get away," was Nellie's comment.
"So we think," answered Tom.
"But who was he?" questioned her sister.
"That's a conundrum we can't answer," returned Sam. "I think he was
waiting around with that auto, and as soon as the fire started Crabtree
saw the chance he wanted and got out."
"Maybe Crabtree started the fire?" suggested Dora.
"No, that was purely an accident-- so the jailer says. The wind blew a
curtain against a lamp and the burning curtain fell into some excelsior
in a box of new dishes. The excelsior made quite a blaze and a lot of
smoke, and everybody in the jail was badly frightened for a while."
After that the talk became general, and quite unconsciously Dick and
Dora strolled off by themselves, down towards a tiny brook that flowed
past the campus grounds.
"You must be very careful, Dora, now that Crabtree is at liberty," said
the eldest Rover boy. "I wouldn't have him run off with you again for
the world," he added, tenderly.
"I shall watch out, Dick,-- and I'll make the others watch out, too." And
then, as he squeezed her hand, she added, in a lower voice: "How is
that other matter coming along?"
"Not very well, Dora," and Dick's face became more serious than ever.
"Can't your father manage it?"
"I don't think so. You see, he isn't in very good health-- he breaks down