The Rover Boys in the Air | Page 9

the answer.
"We both had a set-to with her ladyship," put in Tom. "And the biplane
floored us on the first round." And then he told his younger brother of
what had occurred.
"Humph! that's too bad!" murmured Sam. He took Dick's hand. "Not
hurt much, really?" he asked in a lower voice.
"No, Sam, I'll soon be O. K."

"Jumping lobsters! But this beats all!" went on the youngest Rover. "I
don't know if I had better tell you or not." And he looked around, to see
if anybody but his brothers was present. The grown folks had left the
room.
"Tell us what?" demanded Tom, who quickly saw that Sam had
something on his mind.
"Tell you the news."
"What news?" asked Dick.
"Maybe you can't stand it, Dick. It will keep till to-morrow."
"See here, Sam, I'm not a baby," retorted the oldest Rover boy. "If
you've got anything worth telling tell it."
"But it may make your head ache worse, Dick."
"No, it won't. Now, what's the news? Out with it."
Instead of answering at once, Sam Rover walked over to the door and
closed it carefully.
"No use of worrying the others about it," he half whispered.
"But what is it?" demanded Tom, and now he showed that he was as
impatient as was Dick.
"I got a letter from Grace Laning," went on Sam, slowly, and turned a
bit red. "She told me a piece of news that is bound to upset you, Dick."
"Is it about the Stanhopes--about Dora?" questioned Dick, half rising
from the couch on which he rested.
"Yes,--and about some others, too. But don't get excited. Nothing very
bad has happened, yet."
"What did happen, Sam? Hurry up and tell us,--don't keep us in

suspense!" cried Dick.
"Well; then, if you want it in a few words, here goes. Grace was
visiting the Stanhopes a few days ago and she and Dora went to Ithaca
to do some shopping. While in that town, coming along the street
leading to the boat landing, they almost ran into Tad Sobber and old
Josiah Crabtree."
"What! Those rascals in that town--so near to the Stanhope home!"
exclaimed Dick. "And after what has happened! We must have them
arrested!"
"I don't think you can do it, Dick--not from what Grace says in her
letter."
"What does she say?"
"She says she and Dora were very much frightened, especially when
they discovered that both Sobber and old Crabtree had been drinking
freely. The two got right in front of the girls and commenced to
threaten them and threaten us. Nobody else was near, and the girls
didn't know what to do. But at last they got away and ran for the boat,
and what became of Sobber and old Crabtree they don't know."
"What did the rascals say to them?" questioned Tom, who could see
that his brother had not told all of his tale.
"They said that they were going to square up with Dora and with Mrs.
Stanhope, and said they would square up with us, too, and in a way we
little expected. Grace wrote that Sobber pulled a big roll of bank bills
out of his pocket and flourished it in her face. 'Do you see that?' he
asked. 'Well, I can get more where that came from, and I am going to
use that and more, too, just to get even with the Rovers. I'm getting my
trap set for them, and when they fall into it they'll wish they had never
been born! I'll blow them and their whole family sky-high, that's what
I'll do.'"
"Sobber said that?" asked Dick, slowly.

"So Grace writes. No wonder she and Dora were scared to death."
"Oh, maybe he was only blowing, especially if he had been drinking
too much," came from Tom.
"I don't know about that," answered Dick, with a long sigh. "With such
a rascal at liberty,--and with money in his pocket--there is no telling
what will happen."
"What do you suppose he meant by blowing us sky-high?" asked Tom.
But this question was not answered, for at that moment Mrs. Rover
came into the room, and the course of the conversation had to be
changed,--the lads not wishing to worry her with their new troubles.
CHAPTER IV
AT THE TELEPHONE
Tom and Sam spent the balance of the day in looking for the missing
biplane, walking down to the river, and even visiting Humpback Falls,
where the youngest Rover had once had such a thrilling adventure.
"Don't seem to be in sight," remarked Tom, after they had tramped
through the woods and over the rocks until they were tired.
"Looks to me as if the Dartaway had gone further than we supposed
possible," replied Sam. "Maybe she's a hundred miles from