Part 33 (1/2)
”About the same time they say the lady disappeared.”
”Where did the boat go to?” asked Tom.
”Well, I was kind of curious to know whose boat it was, so I watched pretty closely, and she went in over there,” and the old boatman pointed with his hand to a spot on the opposite sh.o.r.e where there was a tall rock and a fair-sized cove.
”Take us over there at once and I'll pay you well,” said d.i.c.k. ”Get out two pairs of oars, and we'll help you to row.”
Slow though he was, Caleb Belcher was always anxious to earn money, and soon a rowboat was gotten ready and the three Rover boys sprang in. The old boatman followed, and the craft was headed across the lake.
”Who lives near that spot?” questioned d.i.c.k, as they swept over the calm bosom of the lake.
”Tony Carew's farm isn't far off,” answered the old boatman.
”Anybody else?”
”Not that I know of.”
”Do you know this Tony Carew.”
”Guess I do-we went to school together, and licked each other more'n a dozen times,” and Caleb Belcher chuckled over the recollection.
”All right, show us to his place,” said d.i.c.k.
As soon as the sh.o.r.e was reached all sprang out of the boat, which was tied to a bush growing nearby. Then Caleb Belcher led the way along a trail that was rather rough. Presently they came to a road and on it an old farmhouse.
”There is Tony Carew now,” said Belcher, and pointed to an old man who sat on a bench, smoking.
”I didn't have nuthin' to do with it-you can't mix me up in it!” cried Tony Carew, as soon as d.i.c.k stated the object of his visit. ”I didn't tech the lady!” And he bobbed his head vigorously. Evidently he was a man easily scared.
”I want to learn if you know anything about it,” returned d.i.c.k, sternly.
”If you do, tell me.”
”I didn't tech the lady! I wouldn't tech n.o.buddy!” howled Tony Carew.
”Did you see her and the men?”
”Yes-but I didn't tech n.o.buddy, I tell you. I stayed in the barn.”
”But you saw her!” cried d.i.c.k. ”Where did she go? Or where did those men take her?”
”The hull crowd got in a carriage wot was waitin' down the road.”
”Whose carriage?”
”I dunno. They had a white hoss an' a black hoss, an' the carriage had the top kinder torn.”
”Who was driving?”