"I don't believe Gabe was in it at all!" cried Fred.

"He was too. He got us to go after you, exactly as I told you,"

protested Nappy.

"But he wasn't there," said Fred. "And it wasn't a boarding house either."

"I don't care. He was there when we left him to find you. And he wanted to see all of you the worst way." Nappy turned to Slugger. "Isn't that right, Slug?"

"It certainly is. He said he would wait there until we got back. In fact, he said his leg hurt him so he couldn't go a step further, and he said he knew the old folks who lived there very well. We didn't know anything more than what he told us."

"I don't believe a word of your story, Nappy. I believe it's made up from end to end," answered Jack. "You simply had your orders to keep us from going into the hotel, and you carried those orders out to the best of your ability. My opinion is you were in league with those men who robbed my father of his papers."

"I was not. I don't know what you're talking about!" roared Nappy, but his face grew pale as he spoke. "I didn't even know your father had been robbed. Gabe Werner had been hurt. We thought his leg had been broken, although we found out afterwards it was only hurt. He wanted to see all of you--why, I don't know. We simply tried to do him a favor, and this is what we get for it."

"Nappy is telling things just as they were," declared Slugger.

"It's a fairy tale," declared Andy. "If it was true, why did you and Nappy hide when we came up?"

"Because we knew you would be mad when you got there and found that Gabe was missing," answered Slugger.

"Where is Werner now?"

"I don't know. I think he has gone home--anyway, he said something about going," was the glib reply.

"What are you fellows doing here?"

"We own an interest in this claim," answered Nappy loftily, and as he spoke he lit a fresh cigarette.

"Own an interest here?" demanded Jack in pardonable astonishment.

"That's it. I got my folks to buy an eighth interest in the whole outfit, and Slugger's folks bought an equal amount."

"Must have cost you something," said Fred.

"It cost our folks ten thousand dollars each," answered Slugger, in a bragging tone. "But we'll get that back, and a good deal more, too," he added.

"Did Gabe Werner's folks put up anything?" questioned Randy.

"Yes, they have an eighth interest, too," answered Nappy. "Oh, this is going to be some big concern, believe me."

"What about it if my father gets back those papers of which he was robbed?" questioned Jack pointedly.

"Oh, say, Jack Rover, you needn't come to me with that old yarn,"

growled Slugger. "We know there isn't a word of truth in it. Your father never had any such papers."

"He certainly did have them, and some day he may be able to prove it,"

answered Jack warmly. "On the very night that you fellows got us to go out to that storehouse he was knocked down in one of our rooms by two or three men and the papers were taken from him. And what is more, I am pretty sure in my mind that the fellows who took them were Davenport and his partners."

"Then you mean to say that Mr. Davenport is a thief?" cried Slugger, looking Jack full in the face.

"That's what I firmly believe."

Jack had scarcely uttered the words when he felt a heavy hand placed upon his shoulder. He was whirled around, to find himself face to face with the oil promoter.

[Ill.u.s.tration: JACK WAS WHIRLED AROUND AND FACED THE OIL PROMOTER.]

"So that is the way you are talking about me, is it?" cried Carson Davenport, in a rage. "Calling me a thief, and all that sort of thing! I reckon I have an account to settle with you, and I'll settle it right now. You come with me."

And thus speaking he grasped Jack by the arm and dragged him across the field to where his gang of men were at work.

CHAPTER XXVIII

AT THE FRANKLIN PLACE

Carson Davenport's action came so unexpectedly that for the instant Jack did not know what to do. Then, however, he tried to wrench himself free from the oil well promoter's grasp.

"You let go of me!" he cried. "Let go, I say!" And then, as Davenport continued to hold him, he struck the man on the chest.

"Ha! you're the same kind of a spitfire as your father, are you?"

bellowed Davenport. And in a greater rage than ever he let go of Jack and hit him a stinging blow on the side of the face.

"Hi! Stop that! How dare you?" yelled Randy, and sprang forward to Jack's a.s.sistance. But before he could reach his cousin Jack had hauled off and hit Davenport a blow in the cheek.

By this time all of the Rovers were advancing upon Davenport, and the oil well promoter thought it the best policy to fall back.

"Come on, Nappy! Let's get into this!" cried Slugger, and, rushing forward, he caught Randy by the shoulder. "You let them have it out alone!" he ordered.

"This isn't your fight, Slugger, and you had better keep out of it,"

retorted Randy. And then, as Slugger still tried to hold him back, Randy put out his foot, gave the bully a shove, and Slugger measured his length on his back.

In the meanwhile Nappy had also sprung forward. He tried to get at Jack, but Andy and Fred got in the way, and though Nappy struck out several times, hitting both of the Rovers on the arm, they retaliated with a stinging crack in the ear and another on the nose which caused the blood to flow freely and made Nappy retire to a safe distance.

By this time the all-around fight had attracted the attention of a number of the workmen, and they came rushing up to find out what it was all about. The driver of the automobile, who had remained in the car, also came forward.

"I'll fix you, you young whelp!" roared Davenport, as he came again toward Jack.

"You leave me alone," returned Jack. "Don't you dare put your hands on me again!"

"Here, what's the rumpus?" demanded the driver of the automobile, a fellow named George Rogers.

The boys started to explain, not only for the benefit of Rogers, but also for the benefit of the workmen who were coming up.

"That whole bunch ought to be arrested!" bl.u.s.tered Slugger.

"That's what I say!" added Nappy, with his handkerchief to his bleeding nose.