CHAPTER XXA CONSPIRACY OVERHEARD
“Well,” said the stranger, “’ave yer fixed it up?”
“Yes,” said Black Bill. “Crale, or Ogden as he calls himself now, will be at the cross-roads at 12.30. I had a talk with him this evening.”
The Cubs looked at each other. Mr. Ogden? What could it mean? They had come out to find Danny, but apparently they had got on the track of a bigger mystery than they had bargained for.
“We can turn into the wood,” said Black Bill, “and have our little talk with him there. I don’t reckon that it’ll take very long.” He grinned, showing a row of cruel-looking teeth.
“How did you get him to agree to come?” said the foxy-faced stranger.
Black Bill laughed. “I told him,” he said, “that you and I were the only ones left of the old gang. That we were working hard for our living, now, and we didn’t see why he should swank it as a blooming squire, when we helped him make the money he bunked to America with. I said if he refused to meet us, and talk the matter over, I would make known the whole story to the public,and bring disgrace on his name, and show every one that he is not an honest English gentleman, but a forger, who made off with the swag, letting an innocent man suffer imprisonment for him.
“I told him I had a way of making his story known, without bringing suspicion on myself; and I said now we’d found him again, we weren’t going to let him go.”
The Cubs, listening with all their ears, could not make head or tail of all this, for they did not know the story the tramp had told Danny. All they knew was that Mr. Ogden, the twin’s grandfather, was having a plot made against him—an extraordinary plot they could not understand. It was their duty to save him.
“And what is yer goin’ to say to ’im to-night?” asked the man.
“I’m going to tell him that now he’s back, and has got plenty of money, we can start the gang again, with me as boss and him as one of the partners—the partner what provides the money! I’ve drawn up this statement” (and here Black Bill produced a paper), “and I’m going to say if he doesn’t sign it, and keep to it, we will make his story known. Then, I’ll make him write a big cheque, as a start off!”
The foxy-faced man rubbed his hands together and chuckled.
Whatcouldit mean? The Cubs were sorely puzzled. Then Black Bill said something which made them prick up their ears.
“As to that Scout I caught the other night, I made Ogden agree to leave off the search for him.I’ve got him safe, and, whatever happens, he mustn’t escape.”
“Well,” said the stranger, “strikes me we’d better be getting a move on, if we are to be at the cross-roads before 12.30.”
The two men rose, and the Cubs lay flat on the pile of damp hay.
They heard them go out and slam the door; and their footsteps sounded on the cobbled path outside the shed.
“Now,” said Hugh, “what on earth are we to do next?”
“I can’t understand it all,” answered David, “but if grandfather really has something funny about his past, we had better not tell the police about this meeting at the cross-roads. And yet I hate the thought of him meeting Black Bill alone. You don’t know what he might do.”
“I’ve got an idea!” said Hugh suddenly. “Let’s rush back and get the bike, and get there before them, and go and tell the whole thing to the Tramp. He would be sure to know what to do. And he would come with us and hear what they all say in the wood.”
“Good idea!” said David; and, with all haste, the Cubs set out for the place where the bicycle lay concealed.
Unmistakably it was Black Bill and the stranger.[To face page 97.
Unmistakably it was Black Bill and the stranger.[To face page 97.
[To face page 97.