Part 32 (1/2)

Then came a wait of nearly half an hour. At last they saw the front door of the apartment open and several men came out. Two of the men turned in one direction and the other man hurried off alone.

”There he is--there's Pelter!” cried d.i.c.k, in a low voice. ”Now, Sam, see to it that he doesn't get out of your sight.”

”I'll do my best,” answered the youngest Rover, and walked off after the broker.

As Jesse Pelter hurried along he consulted his watch. Then he hastened his steps, making his way to the nearest railroad station. He boarded a train, and the boys followed, Sam getting in the same car with the broker and d.i.c.k and Tom entering the next car, but keeping in sight of their brother.

A number of stations were pa.s.sed and then the broker left the train and the boys did likewise. On the street Jesse Pelter called a cab that was handy and entered it.

”Say, this looks as if we might lose him!” cried d.i.c.k, in alarm. Then he chanced to see another cab, and hurried to it, waving for Tom and Sam to do the same. He ordered the driver to keep the first turnout in sight, but not to get too close.

”I can do that with ease,” said the driver, with a broad grin. ”It's Jerry Dillon's cab, and Jerry's horse is no good at all.”

The two cabs rolled on for several blocks, and then the first turned in the direction of the Hudson River. It halted near the railroad, and Jesse Pelter sprang to the ground. He paid the driver of the cab and dismissed him. Then he hurried along the railroad on foot.

”I guess he is going up to the dock yonder,” Said Tom, while the boys got out.

”Looks like it,” answered d.i.c.k.

All left the cab and hurried after Jesse Pelter, who was now all but out of sight. He pa.s.sed between two buildings and the boys followed him slowly.

”Wait!” cried d.i.c.k presently. ”Look!”

”Why, it's Crabtree!” exclaimed Sam, as another figure came into view--that of a heavily-bearded man with a slouch hat.

”Exactly,” returned d.i.c.k. ”Now keep back, or we may spoil everything,”

he continued, cautiously.

The three boys saw Pelter and Josiah Crabtree converse earnestly for several minutes. The man who had escaped from jail pointed to a big bundle he carried and Pelter nodded. Then both walked slowly across the railroad tracks to a dock jutting out into the Hudson.

At the dock lay a rowboat, with a man who looked like a sailor at the oars. Pelter and Crabtree climbed down into the boat, which was quickly shoved away. Then the sailor took up the oars and commenced to row out into the broad river.

”Now we are stumped!” murmured Tom, as he and his brothers watched the departure of the rowboat from behind a shed at the inner end of the dock.

”Let us watch that rowboat as far as we can,” returned d.i.c.k. ”I don't believe they intend to row very far.”

”Maybe they are going to one of the vessels anch.o.r.ed out yonder,”

remarked Sam.

”More than likely.”

The sailor was pulling up the stream, close to the sh.o.r.e, and the brothers could watch him with ease. The tide was running out and the oarsman had all he could do to make any headway.

”If he is going to keep to the sh.o.r.e, we might follow him on foot,”

suggested Tom, after several minutes had pa.s.sed, and while the rowboat was still clearly in view.

”He is turning out now!” cried d.i.c.k. ”See, I think he is making for yonder two-masted schooner.”

The rowboat had turned out and in a few minutes more the boys felt certain it was headed for the schooner.