CHAPTER XXV

DAVENPORT'S ACCUSATION

"Then the Lorimer Spell claim is positively no good!" exclaimed Jack.

"I wouldn't say that exactly, Jack. No claim down here can be said to be worthless until it has actually been bored for oil. It is just possible that those oil experts may be mistaken. At the same time, from what Mr.

Fitch said, I would be very slow about putting money in that land."

"It's too bad, Uncle d.i.c.k, if that claim's no good when we all supposed it would be so wonderful," came from Fred, and his face showed his disappointment.

"Well, I haven't lost anything," answered his Uncle d.i.c.k. "I feel a great deal better than if I had sunk thirty or forty thousand dollars in a dry hole."

Andy began to snicker.

"Gee! it's rich, Uncle d.i.c.k, to pa.s.s Davenport and that crowd the white elephant," he chuckled. "I only hope they get bit bad, especially if they were the rascals who came here and knocked you out."

"They must have been the crowd, because no one else would be interested in those doc.u.ments. They knew I was going to Wichita Falls to get them, and they probably hung around waiting for my return. And they probably got Martell and Brown to get you boys out of the way. The story about Gabe Werner having a broken leg was probably faked up."

"Nappy admitted that he and Slugger expected to work for the Davenport crowd," said Jack. "They are all tarred with the same stick, and I hope they get stuck bad."

"Uncle d.i.c.k, why don't you pretend to be terribly put out over the fact that you have lost your interest in the claim?" cried Andy. "That will throw them completely off the track. Let them imagine that you think there is a lot of oil to be found there."

"I'll think it over and at the same time I'll think over what other investments I might make while I'm down here. But just at present I think I'll try to get a good night's sleep and reduce this swelling on my head," added Jack's father, as he felt of the b.u.mp tenderly.

"I know one person who would like you to interest yourself in his claim!" exclaimed Jack. "That is Mr. John Franklin, the man we saved from drowning in the Rick Rack River freshet."

Thereupon the boys told of their meeting with Mr. Franklin and Phil, and also related what particulars they knew concerning the man's land and how he had gotten it out of the clutches of the oil sharpers.

"That might be worth looking into," said d.i.c.k Rover. "I'll take it up a little later, after I feel better, and after I have had it out with Davenport and his crowd."

The boys a.s.sisted Jack's father to his room and Jack aided him in retiring. Meanwhile Randy went down to interview the sleepy hotel clerk.

"That fellow doesn't know a thing about what happened," announced Randy on his return. "Those men must have come in and gone out while he was taking a snooze. And as luck would have it for those rascals, no one else seems to have been around."

With nothing of special importance to do, the whole crowd slept late on the following morning, which was Sunday. d.i.c.k Rover was glad to take it easy, but declined to have a physician when that was suggested.

"It was only an ordinary blow, and did nothing more than knock me out for a little while," said he. "The swelling on my head is gradually going down, and that little cut on the temple doesn't amount to much."

"Those men ought all to be put in prison!" burst out Fred.

"Possibly you are right, Fred. But you must remember that you are now in a section of the country where living is rather rough. A new oil town and a new mining camp are pretty much on the same level. You often have to take the law into your own hands and fight your way through the best you can. Later there will be regular law and order, and then matters will run more smoothly."

d.i.c.k Rover did not mention the matter to the boys, but from that day on he went armed, resolved to take no more chances should any of the oil land swindlers attack him again.

Two more days pa.s.sed, and during that time the boys visited a number of localities in that vicinity, trying to catch sight of Nappy and Slugger, and also Werner. But those three unworthies did not show themselves.

"They know we've got it in for them," declared Jack. "They'll keep in hiding until they think this affair has blown over."

On the third day d.i.c.k Rover felt quite like himself, and he hired an automobile to take him and the boys, as well as Nick Ogilvie, to the Lorimer Spell claim. Somewhat to his surprise, he found Carson Davenport on the land, along with Tate and Jackson and half a dozen other men.

More oil-well machinery had been brought up and dumped in a spot near the brook.

"What's the meaning of this, Davenport?" questioned Jack's father shortly.

"It means that I'm going to work on my own hook, Rover," answered Davenport, and there was a sneer in his voice. "I've got tired of trying to make a deal with you, and I've come to the conclusion that your claim is no good."

"I think I understand you perfectly," answered d.i.c.k Rover, and looked at the man so sharply that Davenport had to drop his eyes. "You think you have everything your own way, eh?"

"Never mind what I think. If you've got any real claim on this property you show the evidences. That little paper that Lorimer Spell wrote out on the battlefield of France doesn't hold water with me. You've got to show me the deeds, and all that sort of thing."

"A man can't show papers when he has been robbed of them," went on Jack's father pointedly.

"Humph! So that's your latest story, is it, Rover? First when I asked you for the papers you said they were in a safe deposit vault in Wichita Falls."

"So they were. But now I have been robbed of them, and you know it."

"I know it? Say, Rover, are you going crazy? I don't know any such thing," and now Davenport put on an a.s.sumption of anger.

"I say you do know it--you and your whole crowd!" retorted d.i.c.k Rover.

"This land is a tract said to be full of oil, and you want to do me out of my rights." And now Jack's father appeared to warm up.

"Rover, I've had enough of your bluffing, and I won't stand for any more of it!" cried Carson Davenport. "You may be able to put up a big front with some folks, but it won't go with me. I claim that this land is mine, and I won't pay any more attention to what you say until you produce those precious papers that you have said so much about. And even then I may not listen to you. My private opinion is that the army authorities ought to take up your case and make an example of you," went on the oil promoter, with more of a sneer than before.

"The army authorities?" questioned d.i.c.k Rover, puzzled.

"That's what I said. I've heard a thing or two about you. It was all well enough for you to pull Spell in and get a medal for doing it. But when that poor fool wrote out a so-called will leaving you everything he possessed, I reckon he rather put his foot into it," finished Davenport significantly.

Jack's father and the boys were, of course, astonished, and even Davenport's companions showed that this was something they had not been expecting. The men crowded around to find out what was coming next.

"Davenport, I'll have to ask you to explain yourself!" exclaimed d.i.c.k Rover, and strode forward, his eyes flashing.

"Want me to explain myself, do you?" cried the oil promoter savagely.

"All right, then, I will. According to reports Lorimer Spell ran out ahead of you in that fight, and then he was shot in the back. Do you understand that--shot in the back! Well, who did it? Certainly not the Germans. They were in front of him."

"Do you mean to insinuate that I or one of our other men shot Spell?"

demanded d.i.c.k Rover, and now his face was almost white.

"He had made a will in your favor--you were the only one to profit by his death."

"You cur, you!" cried d.i.c.k Rover. And beside himself with righteous anger, he sprang forward and planted a blow on Carson Davenport's chin that made the oil well promoter stagger back and fall flat.

"Hi! Hi! None of that around here!" bellowed Jake Tate, and caught d.i.c.k Rover by the arm.

"You get back there," was the quick reply. "This is none of your affair.

This man has accused me of something, and he is going to take it back."

"You let my father alone!" broke in Jack, and rushed toward Tate, followed by Randy and Nick Ogilvie. Then the fellow fell back. Jackson viewed the contest in silence.