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Hallett, afraid of the Baxters and all the staring crowd; but she was more afraid of what was going to happen. She tugged at the housekeeper's sleeve. "Mrs. Hobbs!" she whispered, quiveringly. "Oh, Mrs. Hobbs!" Mrs. Hobbs shook off the clutch at her sleeve. "Sshh!" she whispered. "Sshh!" "But but please, Mrs. Hobbs " "Sshh! You mustn't talk. Be still. Be still, I tell you."
"I've got a plan to propose," he said slowly. "Do you want to listen or not?" "What sort of a plan?" asked both. "A plan to get you out of the clutches of Captain Langless and those Baxters," was the answer, which filled Tom and Sam with deep and sudden interest. "Are you willing to help us to get away?" cried Sam. "Under certain circumstances I am," replied the mate of the schooner.
Following this had come a journey to Africa and into the jungle in search of Mr. Rover, and this mission accomplished, the Rover boys had gone West to establish a mining claim in which their father was interested. This claim was disputed by the Baxters, and when the Rovers won out and went for a pleasure trip on the Great Lakes, the Baxters did their best to bring Dick, Tom, and Sam to grief.
"I don't want to sail with a couple of crazy fellows," put in Dan, scowling darkly at the Rovers. "We might keep a close watch on them," suggested Ruff. "And keep a close watch on the Baxters," added Tom. At this moment the door of the tiny cabin of the sloop opened, and a girl came out, rubbing her eyes as if she had been taking a nap, which was a fact.
"Well, you boys have had some ups and downs," said the captain. "But I reckon you weren't cast away before like this." "Not like this," answered Sam. "But we were left on a lonely island once in Lake Huron," and he related a few particulars of their exciting experiences with the Baxters while on the Great Lakes.
Seems like it was only yesterday or the day before that I heern the Old Man callin', "Mudder, mudder, I wanter tell you sumfin'," and that I seen him put his arms around her neck 'nd whisper softly to her. It had been an open winter, 'nd there wuz fever all around us. The Baxters lost their little girl, and Homer Thompson's children had all been taken down.
The Astonished Little Old Lady, if I remember my Mother Goose, resorted to the simple expedient of going home and letting her little dog decide if she were she. But I have no little dog. "They were so earnest to whitewash me, Cornelia! The whole scheme was such a plucky little one and Baxters, from the dawn of creation, have admired pluck.
An hour later the three Rovers departed, leaving Henry Bradner to a fate he richly deserved. "That is one of our enemies disposed of," observed Dick, as they walked back to the hotel. "I wish we could do up the Baxters just as easily." The following day found them on the way to Gunnison.
The funeral had given the town a holiday air, and baxters and dealers stood at their doors gossiping with their customers or by-goers. Country carts rumbled past, the horses moving slowly, reluctant to go back from this place of oats and stall to the furrows where the collar pressed constantly upon the shoulder.
But Roebuck was game, and fired at his assailant, who fired in return, and each man was slightly wounded in the shoulder. Then Roebuck disappeared in the woods back of the old hotel, and that was the last seen of him for the time being. The hunt for the Baxters was kept up until nearly nightfall.
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