The Rover Boys on Land and Sea Part 12

"What's going on here?" he demanded of the Rover boys. "Why are you not at work, as I ordered?"

"I have made an important discovery," answered d.i.c.k. "Is this your pa.s.senger, Captain Blossom?"

"He is. What of him?"

"He is a thief and ran away from San Francisco to escape the police."

"It's a falsehood!" roared Dan Baxter. "They have made a mistake. I am a respectable man just out of college, and my father, Doctor L.

Z. Brown, is a well-known physician of Los Angeles. I am traveling to Australia for my health."

"His real name is Daniel Baxter and his father is now in prison,"

said Tom. "He robbed us of our money and some diamonds while we were stopping at a hotel in San Francisco. The detectives followed him up, but he slipped them by taking pa.s.sage on your ship."

"I tell you my name is Brown--Robert Brown!" stormed Baxter. "This is some plot hatched up against me. Who are these fellows, anyway?"

he went on, turning to the captain.

"They came from the steamer we ran into," answered Captain Blossom.

"I never saw them before."

At this moment Dora touched the captain on the shoulder.

"Please, captain," she said, "I knew Dan Baxter quite well and I am sure this young man is the same person."

"It aint so. I tell you, captain, it is a plot."

"What kind of a plot could it be?" asked Captain Blossom. He scarcely knew what to say.

"I don't know. Perhaps they want to get hold of my money," went on Baxter, struck by a sudden idea.

"That's right, we do want to get hold of the money!" cried Sam. "For it belongs to us--at least two hundred and seventy-five dollars of it--not counting what he may have got on the diamonds and the cuff b.u.t.tons."

"You shan't touch my money!" screamed Baxter.

"Captain, he ought to be placed under arrest," said d.i.c.k.

Dora had gone back to the cabin and now she returned in great haste with Nellie and Grace.

"To be sure, that is Dan Baxter," said Nellie.

"There can be no mistake," put in Grace, "We all know him only too well."

"You see, Captain Blossom, that we are six to one," said Tom. "And you will surely believe the ladies."

"How is you all happen to know him so well?" demanded the captain curiously.

"We know him because we all went to school together," answered d.i.c.k.

"These young ladies lived in the vicinity of the school. We had trouble with Baxter at school and later on out West, and ever since that time he has been trying to injure us. We met him in San Francisco in the hotel lobby and at night he went to our room, cut open a traveling bag and unlocked our trunks and robbed us of two hundred and seventy-five dollars in cash, some diamond studs, a pair of cuff b.u.t.tons, and some clothing."

"I've got an idea!" almost shouted Sam. "Maybe he has some of the stolen stuff in his stateroom."

"Yes, yes, let us search the stateroom: by all means!" exclaimed Tom.

"You shall not touch my room!" howled Baxter, turning pale. "I have nothing there but my own private property."

"If that is so, you shouldn't object to having the stateroom searched,"

observed Captain Blossom.

"If we get back our money we may be able to pay you something, captain, for our pa.s.sage," said d.i.c.k.

This was a forceful argument and set Captain Blossom to thinking. He was a man who loved money dearly.

"I will go along and we will look around the stateroom," he said, after a pause.

"This is an outrage!" cried Dan Baxter. "I will have the law on you for it."

"Shut up! I am master on my own ship," retorted Captain Blossom, and led the way to the stateroom Dan Baxter occupied. The door was locked and Baxter refused to give up the key. But the captain had a duplicate, and soon he and the Rover boys were inside the room. Baxter followed them, still expostulating, but in vain.

"Here is a pocketbook full of bills!" cried Tom, bringing the article to light.

"Here is my light overcoat!" came from d.i.c.k. "See, it has my initials embroidered in the hanger. Aunt Martha did that for me."

"Here are my gold cuff b.u.t.tons!" exclaimed Sam. "They were a present from my father and they have my monogram engraved on each." And he showed the articles to the captain.

"I reckon it's a pretty clear case against you," said Captain Blossom, turning to Dan Baxter.

"Here are half a dozen letters," said Tom, holding them up. "You can see they are all addressed to Daniel Baxter. That's his name, and he'd be a fool to deny it any longer."

"Well, I won't deny it," cried the big bully. "What would be the use--you are all against me--even the captain."

"I am not against you," retorted Captain Blossom. "But if you are a thief I want to know it. Why did you give me your name as Robert Brown?"

"That's my business." Baxter paused for a moment. "Now you have found me out, what are you going to do about it?" he went on brazenly. "You can't arrest me on shipboard."

"No, but we can have you arrested when we land," said d.i.c.k. "And in the meantime we will take charge of what is our own."

"Here are some p.a.w.n tickets for the diamonds," said Sam, who was continuing the search. "They show he got seventy-five dollars on them."

"We will keep the tickets--and the seventy-five dollars, too--if we can find the money," said Tom.

But the money could not be found, for the greater part had been turned over to Captain Blossom for Baxter's pa.s.sage to Australia and the rest spent before leaving sh.o.r.e. The pocketbook contained only two hundred and thirty dollars.

"What did he pay you for the pa.s.sage?" questioned d.i.c.k of the captain.

"One hundred dollars."

"Then you ought to turn that amount over to our credit."

"Why, what do you mean?"