Page:The Rover Boys on the Ocean.djvu/79

Rh dressing and coming over, armed with a night-stick.

"What does this disturbance mean?" he demanded in a high-pitched voice. "Who broke this door in?"

"We did," replied Tom boldly. "We want to find my brother," and he related how Dick had disappeared.

"I know nothing of your trouble with my tenants," said Caleb Yates. "But I won't have my property destroyed."

"I'm going to find my brother if I have to turn the house upside down."

"And I am going to find him, too," put in Sam. "Do you know that the men who have this room are thieves, and that one of them broke jail at Rootville?"

"I don't believe your yarn, boy—they looked like very respectable gentlemen, both of them. You had better go about your business after you have paid me for breaking down the door. You shan't ransack their property."

"If you stop us I'll call in the police and have you arrested," came promptly from Tom.

This threat nearly took away Caleb Yates' breath. "Arrested!" he gasped.

"Yes, arrested. My brother came in here, and is missing. Those two men are our enemies. If