Dave Porter and His Double Part 39

"That's all right, Bill Jarvey," retorted the man called Packard Brown. "When we left the U. S. A. and came over here it was understood that we were to share and share alike in everything."

"Yes, but I didn't think this new thing was coming up," growled Jarvey. "We were to share equal on what we happened to get out of the greasers. This is another thing entirely."

"I admit that. Just the same, I think I'm ent.i.tled to my share."

"Well, you help us all you can and you'll get a nice little wad out of it, Brown."

What more was said on this subject did not reach the ears of Dave and Roger, for just then the latter pulled our hero by the sleeve.

"Somebody's coming!" he whispered. "Maybe it's Porton."

Dave did not answer. At the end of the semi-dark hallway there was a closet which in years gone by had been used for the storage of guns and clothing. Into this closet the two youths went, closing the door carefully after them.

"It's Porton all right enough," whispered Dave, who a moment later was crouching low and looking through a large keyhole devoid of a key.

"There he goes into the room where the two men are."

"Then those two men must be in with him," returned the senator's son.

"Say, Dave, this is certainly getting interesting!"

"It's going to make our job a pretty hard one," answered our hero. "If Ward Porton was alone we might be able to capture him. But I don't see how we are going to do it with Jarvey and that man named Brown present."

"Maybe if we offer Jarvey and Brown a large reward they will help us make Porton a prisoner," suggested Roger. "More than likely Jarvey is on his uppers and will do anything to get a little cash."

The two youths came out into the semi-dark hallway once more, and on tiptoes crept toward the door of the room occupied by Ward Porton and the two men.

"I went all around the buildings, and looked up and down the roadway, but I couldn't see anything of them," the former moving-picture actor was saying. "I guess they got cold feet when they saw those soldiers.

Say, those greasers certainly were a fierce-looking bunch!"

"I don't believe they were any of General Bila.s.sa's army," returned William Jarvey. "They were probably some detachment out for whatever they could lay their hands on," and he chuckled coa.r.s.ely. Evidently he considered that such guerrilla warfare under certain circ.u.mstances was perfectly justifiable.

Following this there was some talk which neither of those outside the door could catch. Then came a rather loud exclamation from Ward Porton which startled our friends more than anything else that could have been said.

"Well, now, look here, Dad!" cried the former moving-picture actor.

"You let me run this affair. I started it, and I know I can put it through successfully."

"That's right, Jarvey!" broke in Packard Brown. "Let your son go ahead and work this deal out to suit himself. He seems to have made a success of it so far--getting the best of that fellow c.r.a.psey," and the speaker chuckled.

Dave and Roger looked at each other knowingly. Here indeed was a revelation. Evidently Ward Porton was the son of the man they knew as William Jarvey.

"My gracious! I remember now!" burst out our hero in a low tone. "When we went to Burlington to see that old man, Obadiah Jones, about Ward don't you remember that he told us that Ward was the son of a good-for-nothing lieutenant in the army named Jarvey Porton? That man Pankhurst who was captured declared that Jarvey was living under an a.s.sumed name and had been an officer in the army. It must be true, Roger. This fellow is really Jarvey Porton, and he is Ward Porton's father!"

CHAPTER XXIX

THE CAPTURE

What Dave said concerning the man he had known as William Jarvey was true. He was in reality Ward Porton's father, his full name being William Jarvey Porton. Years before, however, on entering the United States Army, he had dropped the name William and been known only as Jarvey Porton. Later, on being dismissed from the army for irregularities in his accounts, he had a.s.sumed the name of William Jarvey.

A lively discussion lasting several minutes, and which our hero and Roger failed to catch, followed the discovery of Jarvey Porton's ident.i.ty. Then the listeners heard the former lieutenant say:

"Brown, I think you had better go outside and watch to make sure that no one is coming to this place."

"All right, just as you say," was the other man's answer. Evidently he understood that this was a hint that Jarvey Porton wished to speak to his son in private.

As Packard Brown placed his hand on the door leading to the semi-dark hallway Dave and Roger lost no time in tiptoeing their way back to the closet in which they had before hidden. From this place they saw Brown leave the room and walk outside. Then they returned to their position at the door.

"Are you sure the cases are in a safe place, Ward?" they heard Jarvey Porton ask anxiously.

"Sure of it, Dad. I hid them with great care."

"Are you sure n.o.body saw you do it?"

"Not a soul."

"Where was the place?"

"On a high knoll not far from where we have been tying up the boats,"

answered Ward Porton. "There are a number of big rocks there, and I found a fine _cache_ between them."

"It's rather dangerous to leave them around that way," grumbled the man. "Maybe you would have done better if you had brought them over here."

"I thought there would be no use in carting them back and forth,"

returned the son. "I wanted to have them handy, in case the Ba.s.swoods met my demands."

"Well, we'll see what comes of it, Ward. I hope we do get that money.

I certainly need some," and Jarvey Porton heaved something of a sigh.

Evidently father and son were equally unscrupulous and took no pains to disguise that fact from each other.

More talk followed, Ward telling something of the way in which the miniatures had been obtained and his father relating the particulars of his troubles with the Mentor Construction Company. In the midst of the latter recital Dave and Roger heard Packard Brown returning on the run.

"Hi there!" called out the man in evident alarm. And then as the two chums hid in the closet once more, he burst into the room occupied by the Portons. "Those greasers are coming back and they are heading for this place!" he explained.

"In that case we had better get out," answered Jarvey Porton, quickly.

"But you and Brown helped them in that raid, Dad," interposed the son.

"Why should you get out?"

"We had a big quarrel after that raid, Ward," explained the parent.

"And now those greasers have no use for us. We'll have to get out, and in a hurry, too."

Shouting could now be heard at a distance, and this was followed by a volley of shots which surprised all the listeners.

"I'll tell you what it must be," said Jarvey Porton, as he led the way from the deserted ranch. "A detachment from the regular army must be after General Bila.s.sa's crowd. Maybe they'll have a fight right here along the border!"

"I don't want to get mixed up in any fight!" exclaimed Ward Porton.

"Maybe we had better get back to the United States side of the river."