CHAPTER XVIIREAL FRIENDS
The conference in Tom Rover’s library lasted until well past midnight. There were present not only the Rovers, but a number of other business men, and all sorts of plans for continuing business at the offices in Wall Street were thrashed out.
Several of the outsiders were liberal with their advice, but when it came to real assistance Dick Rover and his brothers quickly realized that they would have to depend almost entirely on themselves for whatever was done.
The boys were not wanted at this conference, and so withdrew to the library in Jack’s home. Here the four held a discussion fully as animated as that going on next door.
“Dad admits that things look mighty black,” said Randy. “But he cautioned Andy and myself not to say too much before mother, because she’s worried to death as it is.”
“And that’s just what dad told me to be careful of,” put in Fred. “I never saw my mother lookworse! Why, you’d think somebody in the family had died!”
“Well, we’ve got to admit that it is serious—the most serious thing that ever happened to us as far as our fortunes are concerned,” returned Jack. “This hold-up may wipe out The Rover Company entirely. The company has obligations totaling three hundred thousand dollars and all of these have got to be met inside of six weeks. Of course, they may get an extension of time from the banks and their other creditors. But unless the missing securities are recovered it isn’t likely that those extensions will be for long.”
“But their credit ought to be good; the company has always stood A, Number One!” cried Andy.
“Yes. And that will help some, so dad says. But it won’t help enough,” answered Jack. “I really don’t know what they can do unless they can get some of their friends to come to the front and help them out, and I know dad and your fathers would hate to ask them to do that under present circumstances, when everything looks so black.”
“What about the girls? Are they going to stay with Ruth now that this thing has happened?” asked Randy.
“Mother telegraphed to Mary that she hadbetter come home,” answered Fred. “I suppose Martha will come with her. More than likely they’ll be just as anxious as we were to know what’s going on.”
“I wonder if Slugger Brown and Nappy Martell are really implicated in this?” mused Jack. “If they are, then the thing for us to do would be to try to locate them and force them to tell the truth.”
“If they were implicated, you can make sure that now the hold-up has been pulled off they’ll keep out of sight,” answered Randy. “The fellows who did that may be thousands of miles away by this time.”
“And to think the police haven’t been able to round up anybody!” sighed Andy.
“Well, it’s not so easy to trace a criminal as some people think,” returned his twin. “Sometimes they catch a crook more by good luck than by cleverness.”
“Well, then, let’s hope that we have luck in landing these bandits,” came from Fred. “Wish I could get my hands on ’em!”
The next day was a busy one for the older Rovers. A conference was held at the offices in Wall Street, and this was attended by the fathers of the boys, as well as by Songbird Powell, Fred Garrison, and several other men. Somewhat tothe Rovers’ surprise, Mr. Stevenson was not present.
“Mr. Stevenson hasn’t answered any of our telegrams,” said Dick to his brothers, just as the conference got under way. “Perhaps he’s away from home and hasn’t even heard of the hold-up.” And this surmise proved to be correct.
The outsiders at the meeting wanted to know if the authorities had as yet reported anything of importance and were much disappointed when Dick stated that so far as he and his brothers knew no real information concerning the hold-up men had yet been brought to light.
“The authorities have a number of hold-up men under suspicion,” said he. “And all of these are being watched by the detectives. One of the older detectives thinks this job may have been engineered by two fellows known as Lefty Ditini, so called because he’s left-handed, and Black Ronombo, two fellows who are supposed to be West Indians or, possibly, Mexicans. They’re also looking for three slick bandits who have been operating in Philadelphia and Buffalo, because they handle jobs in exactly the same way this affair was handled.”
Dick then went on making a little speech and recited such particulars of the affair as he could and ended by telling of the securities that weremissing and of the fact that the insurance on the documents had run out, owing to the neglect of one of their clerks.
“I presume we are responsible for not keeping track of the insurance,” he continued. “We should have watched that matter more closely.”
“Well, we’re all liable to make mistakes,” put in Gif Garrison’s father quickly. “Of course, it’s a great shock, Dick. But I want to say right now that I’m not going to blame either you or Tom or Sam for what has happened.”
“And neither am I going to blame you,” put in Songbird Powell. “Why, this hold-up might have happened to any of us. Wasn’t my house robbed last summer? While we were at dinner in the dining room the thieves crawled up on a second story porch and went through all the upper rooms, taking money and jewelry to the tune of over two thousand dollars. And we’ve never heard of what was stolen to this day.”
“Yes, I remember that,” said Tom.
“It’s good of you to stand by us,” said Dick, looking gratefully at his former school chums. “But now let us come to business and see just what can be done toward getting the Company out of this mess.”
The conference lasted until the middle of the afternoon and all sorts of ways and means werediscussed to bridge over the difficulty. Fred Garrison came forward with an additional twenty thousand dollars and Songbird Powell offered another fifteen thousand dollars, and these two sums were tentatively accepted by Dick and his brothers.
In the midst of the talk four telegrams were received, two from their old school chums, George Granbury and Hans Mueller and the others from Stanley Browne and Spud Jackson who had been with them at Brill College. All of these men tendered their sincerest sympathy and each said he would help out if an endorsement of notes was needed.
“Well, that shows we’ve certainly got some friends!” said Sam, and his eyes grew misty as he read one telegram after another. “Good for George, Hans, Spud and Stanley!”
By a hard effort and a good deal of close figuring on the part of all of the older Rovers the Company managed to fix things so that the obligations amounting to about one hundred thousand dollars and falling due within the next two weeks would be met. But what could be done about the two hundred thousand coming due a month later was still a question.
“We’ll have to see some of the bank officials about that,” said Tom. “They ought to be ableto tide us over, especially if we can get the right kind of endorsements for our notes.” Yet even as he spoke he knew that the prospects were not encouraging, for the money market was just then very tight.
The boys visited the offices and took a look around the premises. All of the clerks were once again at work and Jack and his cousins gazed at Ken Greene in anything but a friendly manner.
“If it hadn’t been for that puddin’head the Company would be all right,” whispered Fred to the others. “Just think of one clerk like that being able to put a company like this in the hole just because he forgot to do his duty!”
“It’s like the soldier who goes to sleep when he’s on guard,” put in Andy. “For two pins I’d like to give him the thrashing of his life!”
“Well, as for that, I guess we’d all like to do it,” came from Jack.
When the boys returned to Riverside Drive they found that Martha and Mary had just arrived. The girls were excited and tried to ask a dozen questions at once.
“Mrs. Stevenson was just as upset as anybody,” said Martha in reply to a question from her brother. “Mr. Stevenson was away on a fishing trip and she didn’t know how to get hold of him. And what do you think, Jack? Half ofthe money that Ruth’s father put into The Rover Company belonged to Mrs. Stevenson! So she’ll stand to lose just as much as her husband.”
“And what did Ruth have to say about the affair?”
“Oh, she didn’t know what to say. It took them both so much by surprise that they were almost stunned. Then Mrs. Stevenson went into hysterics when she thought all that money might be lost, and Ruth had all she could do to quiet her.”
“Did Ruth blame dad for what happened?”
“She did and she didn’t. She thought it was awfully queer that none of the officers of the company was at the offices when the hold-up happened and she also thought it was queer that they should have had so many securities on hand. She thought such valuable things were either kept locked in the safe or else locked in the bank vaults.”
“Well, dad would have been there, only he got the fake ’phone call that mother had been hurt in a subway accident. And as for having the securities on hand, there is a good explanation about that, although I’m afraid I can’t just explain it to you. Some of these securities were being listed to be sold. They all had to be inspected, and that was the reason they were at the offices and not inthe bank vaults. Of course, the majority of them were in the office safe, but that was open because it is usually kept open during office hours. Dad says, however, that they should have been locked in an inner compartment, although he supposes the bandits could easily have opened such a compartment with the tools they probably carried.”
“Well, it’s too bad. Mrs. Stevenson cried quite a good deal and once she let out that she expected to give Ruth five thousand dollars’ worth of the securities when Ruth became of age and another five thousand on her wedding day, if she ever got married.”
“Well, it’s too bad, Martha, and nobody feels it any more than I do,” answered Jack, and turned away, his lips quivering.
Instantly his sister was at his side and had her arm over his shoulder.
“Jack dear, don’t think that I don’t understand,” she whispered. “I do! And I feel it just as much as you do! But don’t think too hard of Ruth. She has been all upset by the way her mother takes it and by the fact that her father could not be found. I’m sure when she calms down she will understand it better.”
“Maybe,” Jack answered. “But just now it looks as if everything was crumbling under our feet.”
A surprise awaited the Rovers just as the men of the family came home from Wall Street. They had just stepped into the house when a tall gentleman leaped from a taxicab and ran up the steps after Dick.
“Larry Colby!” exclaimed Jack’s father, greeting the head of Colby Hall with a hearty handclasp. “I’m glad to see you!”
“I thought I’d catch you here rather than at the offices,” answered the master of Colby Hall. “I started for New York just as soon as I heard of your trouble.”
Colonel Colby was greeted warmly by not only the older Rovers, but also the lads who had attended his school so many years. The colonel did not waste words, but went immediately to the subject nearest to his heart.
“I knew you might be wanting assistance,” he said, “and I thought I’d come here and tell you that I stand ready to do what I can. I haven’t got any great amount of cash I can put up—most of my money goes into improvements at the school—but what I have you are welcome to. And if my name counts for anything, you are welcome to use that too.”
For the moment Dick could hardly speak, he was so overcome by his emotion. Then he blurted out his thanks, remarking at the same time thathe had heard the same words not only from Fred Garrison and Songbird Powell, but also from Spud Jackson, Stanley Browne, George Granbury and Hans Mueller. “I’ll tell you what—old friends are best!” he said. “Every one of them is sticking to us like glue!”