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Updated: May 10, 2025
"Yes, I had Bill Noxton all cocked and primed. But now our cake is dough and after all the trouble I've taken for your father, too!" And Henry Bradner uttered a snort of disgust. "Did you warn this Noxton?" "Oh, yes, and I put a flea into the ear of the hotel clerk, too. But the thing is, what do you suppose your father will want done next?" "Don't ask me," answered Dan Baxter recklessly.
"Run up to room 233 and tell Tom Rover to come down at once and follow his brother," he said hurriedly. "I can't go up I want to watch that man, for he's a crook." The boy seemed to understand, and flew for the stairs, the elevator being out of sight. Dick ran to the door, to behold Bradner standing on the sidewalk as if undecided which way to pursue his course.
But presently he walked slowly up the street. Dick followed him, and had gone less than half a block when Tom joined him, all out of breath with running. "What is it, Dick?" "It was Bradner, who came to smooth matters over. I am following him to see if I can't get on to his game." "Oh, what nerve! I should think he would have been afraid to come near us."
They both stared at Dick in horror. "Oh, Dick, you are hurt?" cried Tom. "Not very much. Bradner hit me on the head. I am glad I am alive." "And where is the rascal now?" questioned the old miner. "Ran away." "And Dan Baxter?" queried Tom. "Gone, too, I suppose. They must have been together." And then Dick related what had occurred so far as he knew since Tom had left him.
Dan Baxter and Bradner were still conversing, but the youth could not hear what was said. Presently the pair at the table arose, settled for their drinks and came out of the place. They walked up the street and around a corner, and Dick followed, scattering bits of an old letter as he went along. When the letter was used up, he tore to bits some handbills which he found in the street.
"Why, that's Harry the Crook, from Gunnison!" put in an officer who had just come in. "He is wanted here on half a dozen charges." At these words Bradner turned deadly pale. "This is a a mistake," he faltered. "I know nothing of the man you mention." "Too thin, Harry; I know you well," replied the officer. "Captain, he is a bad one," he continued to his superior.
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.
"I am willing," answered Dick quietly. Muttering angrily to himself, Henry Bradner arose. He wanted to run away, but got no chance to do so. Soon the station house was reached, and here Dick and his brothers told their story. "The assault happened in another State," said the officer at the desk. "The most we can do is to hold him until the Illinois authorities send for him."
Bradner was about to bend over his victim to ascertain how badly Dick was hurt when the footsteps of two men approaching made him draw back. "Come, we don't want to be caught," whispered Dan Baxter nervously. And then, as the footsteps came closer, he darted away, with Henry Bradner at his heels. They did not stop until a long distance away from the scene of the dastardly attack.
As this statement about cards fitted in with what Mr. Rover had said concerning Jack Wumble, the boys swallowed it without hesitation, and they were inclined to believe that Henry Bradner was all right, after all. "Will you register here?" went on the man. "No, I don't like the looks of the place," answered Dick promptly. "We are not of the drinking kind," he added.
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