The Rover Boys on the Great Lakes | Page 9

Edward Stratemeyer
two had quite recovered from the injuries received in the landslide
in Colorado, and it may be as well to state right here that they were
bound East in order to carry out a new plot which the elder Baxter had
hatched up against the Rovers.
What that plot was will be disclosed as our story proceeds.
"Father, it is Dick Rover," cried Dan Baxter, after having seen the
unconscious one brought on board.
"Hush, Dan! I know it," whispered Arnold Baxter.
"It's a pity he wasn't drowned in the lake."
"I agree with you. But he isn't dead, and we'll have to keep out of sight
for the rest of the trip."
"Humph! I am not afraid of him!" said the bully, for, as old readers
know, Dan had never been anything else.
"That may be, but if he sees us he may--ahem--make much trouble for
me."

"On account of our doings in Colorado? What can he prove? Nothing."
"Perhaps he can. Besides, Dan, you must remember that the officers of
New York State are still after me."
"Yes, I haven't forgotten that."
"I wish now that I had put on that false wig and beard before we left
Detroit," went on Arnold Baxter. "But I hated to put them on before it
was absolutely necessary--the weather is so warm."
"Can you put them on now?"
"Hardly, since all on board know my real looks. I will have to keep out
of Rover's sight."
"I would like to know what he is doing out here."
"On a pleasure trip, most likely."
The talk went on for some time, and then Dan approached one of the
mates of the freighter, who had just come from the stateroom to which
Dick had been taken.
"How is that young fellow getting on?" he asked carelessly.
"He's in bad shape," was the answer.
"Do you think he'll die?"
"Hardly, but he is very weak and completely out of his mind. The hot
sun, coming after the storm, must have affected his brain."
"Out of his mind? Doesn't he recognize anybody?"
"No, he talks nothing but lumber, and cries out to be pulled from the
water. Poor boy! it's too bad, isn't it?"
"It is too bad," said Dan Baxter hypocritically. "Do you know his

name?"
"No, but he's a brother to those boys who hailed us from the yacht a
couple of hours ago. A lumber raft struck the yacht and the boy was
knocked overboard and managed to cling to some timber."
"Is the man who was saved his friend?"
"No, he was on the raft and the two are strangers;" and with this remark
the mate of the freight steamer passed on.
Without delay Dan told his father of what he had heard. Arnold Baxter
was much pleased.
"If he remains out of his mind we'll be safe enough," he said. "I
presume they'll put him off at Cleveland and send him to the hospital."
"I wonder where that yacht is?"
"Oh, we have left her miles behind."
"And how soon will we reach Cleveland?"
"Inside of half an hour, so I heard one of the deck hands say."
No more was said for the time being, but both father and son set to
thinking deeply, and their thoughts ran very much in the same channel.
Just as the freight steamer was about to make the landing at Cleveland,
Arnold Baxter touched his son on the arm.
"If they take Dick Rover ashore, let us go ashore too," he whispered.
"I was thinking of that, dad," was Dan's answer. "Was you thinking, too,
of getting him in our power?"
"Yes."
"I don't see why we can't do it--if he is still unconscious."

"It won't hurt to try. But we will have to work quick, for more than
likely his brothers will follow us to this city," went on Arnold Baxter.
The steamer had but little freight for Cleveland, so the stop was only a
short one.
When poor Dick was brought up on a cot, still unconscious, Arnold
Baxter stepped forward.
"I have determined to stop off at Cleveland," he said to Captain Jasper.
"If there is anything I can do for this poor fellow, I will do it willingly."
"Why, I thought you were going through to Buffalo," returned the
captain in surprise.
"I was going through, but I've just remembered some business that
must be attended to. I'll take the train for Buffalo to-morrow. If you
want me to see to it that this poor fellow is placed in the hospital, I'll do
it."
The offer appeared a good one, and relieved Captain Jasper's mind
greatly.
"You are kind, sir," he said. "It isn't everyone who would put himself to
so much trouble."
"I was wrecked myself once," smiled Arnold Baxter. "And
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