Chapter XXIV. A Capture and a Surprise - The Rover Boys on the Farm by Edward Stratemeyer
The others were much astonished by what Tom said, and they could scarcely believe that they had heard aright.
"Bill Dangler!" cried Sam, but Tom put his hand over his brother's mouth to silence him. Then he nodded vigorously.
"What would that freight thief be doing here?" questioned Dick, in a whisper.
"I am sure I don't know. But I am almost certain it was Dangler's voice. If you will remember, it has a certain shrillness to it."
"Yes, I know that."
During this talk there were murmurs in the cabin which those outside could not understand. Then the old man came towards the door and slipped a bolt into place.
"I want you to go away!" he said sharply. "I don't like strangers around here."
"We won't hurt you, Mr. Derringham," said Dick. "We came to pay you a friendly visit."
"Wouldn't you like a nice rabbit from us?" asked Tom, bound to get into the cabin somehow.
"I have no money with which to buy rabbits."
"We'll make you a present of one," said Sam.
"I want no presents from anybody. I want you to go away," said the old man, in a high-pitched, nervous tone.
"Mr. Derringham, don't you remember me?" asked Jack Ness. "I used to buy herbs and watercress from you. I'd like to speak to you for a minute."
"Who are you?"
"I am Jack Ness, the man who works over on the Rover farm."
"The Rover farm!" muttered a voice in the cabin. "Don't let them in! Don't you do it!"
"I am sure that is Dangler!" cried Tom, whose ears were on the alert. "If he is really there we have him cornered!"
"Yes, and he shan't get away from us again," added Dick.
"If he tries it we can halt him with a dose of buckshot," put in Sam.
After that there was a pause, the boys not knowing exactly how to proceed. Tom pressed on the door, but it refused to give way.
"I tell you I want you to leave!" cried the old man, after some more whispering in the cabin. "If you don't go away I'll get my gun."
"There are four of us and all armed," answered Dick. "So you had better not do any shooting. But you have got to open that door. We will do you no harm."
"What do you want in here?"
"We want to see who is in there with you?" answered Tom, boldly.
"Don't you know that I am alone?"
"You are not alone," said Sam.
"Well, I know best," was the hesitating answer. "If I was sure you wouldn't hurt me I'd let you in."
"We will not harm you in the least," answered Dick.
There was a moving around in the cabin and what seemed to be the dropping of a door. Then old Derringham came forward again.
"You are sure you won't rob me if I open the door?" he asked.
"We mean you no harm—if you will do what is right," said Tom.
Then the door was thrown open and the Rover boys and Jack Ness were confronted by a man at least seventy years of age. He had snow-white hair and a snowy beard that reached to his waist.
The boys and the hired man went hastily into the cabin and looked around. Nobody but Derringham was in sight. Dick looked at the floor under the table and saw something which looked like a trap door.
"He must have gone into the cellar," said he to the others, and made a movement forward.
"Stop, do not touch that table!" cried the old man, in alarm.
"Mr. Derringham, listen to me," said the eldest Rover boy firmly. "We are after a criminal—a man who for years robbed the railroad company of valuable freight. We know he is somewhere around your place. If you shield this criminal, or aid him in getting away, you will be guilty of a crime."
At this strong assertion the old man began to tremble, and he looked from one to another of those before him in alarm.
"I—I Bill Dangler said it was not true—that it was a plot against him," he murmured.
"It is true, and there is no plot against him, excepting to make him pay the penalty of his crimes," put in Tom. "If you have hidden him you had better give him up."
"I know you," said old Derringham, turning to Jack Ness. "You used to pay me good prices for what you bought of me. Can I trust you?" he went on, pleadingly.
"Certainly you can, and you can trust these boys, too," was the hired man's reply. "If you want to keep out of trouble you had better help us all you can."
By this time Dick had the table shoved to one side. Under the bottom of one of the legs he found a small iron ring, connecting with the door in the floor. He pulled on this and the door came up, showing a small cellar below, used chiefly by the old man for the storage of winter vegetables and the roots he gathered.
"Dangler, you might as well come up!" called out Dick. "It won't do you any good to try to hide."
"What do you want of me?" came in a sullen voice from below.
"You know very well what we want."
"I haven't done anything."
"You can tell that to the police, after you are locked up. Come up."
Slowly and with downcast face Bill Dangler crawled from the small cellar and pulled himself up to the floor of the cabin. He gazed reproachfully at the old man, who was again trembling.
"I'll fix you for going back on me," he muttered.
"They say you are a thief," answered the old man. "If you are, I want nothing more to do with you. I am poor, but I am honest—everybody who knows me knows that."
"He shall not harm you," put in Tom. "He'll soon be behind the bars."
A glance at the party of four, with their shotguns, convinced the freight thief that escape was out of the question.
"I suppose I'll have to give up," he growled. "But I ain't as guilty as you may think I am."
"You are guilty enough," said Sam.
"I didn't plan those freight robberies."
"Who did then?" questioned Tom.
"Merrick and Pike. I don't mind telling on them, for they have gone back on me."
"Is Merrick the head of the gang?" asked Dick.
"Yes."
"Where is he now?"
"If I tell will you let me go?"
"I can't do that, Dangler."
"Well, I don't care anyway. Merrick hasn't treated me right, and he ought to suffer. He has a hangout a few miles from the city of Ithaca, if you know where that is."
"Yes, on Lake Cayuga."
"That's it."
"You say a few miles from the city," pursued Sam. "What do you mean by that?"
"He and some of his friends, Pike among them, have a meeting place along the lake. It's an old house, unpainted, and with very narrow windows, so I've been told. You find that house and likely you'll find Merrick and Pike."
"I thought those chaps were from the city?" said Sam.
"They are, but every once in a while they find it convenient to disappear, and then they go to that place on Lake Cayuga. It's an old homestead that used to belong to Merrick's sister."
"We ought to be able to find that place," said Tom to his brothers. "Especially if it was a homestead."
"Was the sister's name Merrick, too, or was she married?" asked Sam.
"She was a widow, so I was told. When she died she left her son in charge of Merrick—but I don't believe he ever looked after the boy very much."
"What was her name?" asked Dick.
"Sobber—Mary Ann Sobber."
"Sobber!" ejaculated the three Rover boys.
"That's it."
"Did you ever hear the son's name?" asked Dick.
"I don't remember—yes, I do. Merrick had a letter from him once. The boy's name was Tad Sobber. He was at a boarding school somewhere."