am, slowly, and turned a
bit red. "She told me a piece of news that is bound to upset you, Dick."

"Is it about the Stanhopes--about Dora?" questioned Dick, half rising
from the couch on which he rested.

"Yes,--and about some others, too. But don't get excited. Nothing very
bad has happened, yet."

"What did happen, Sam? Hurry up and tell us,--don't keep us in
suspense!" cried Dick.

"Well; then, if you want it in a few words, here goes. Grace was
visiting the Stanhopes a few days ago and she and Dora went to Ithaca to
do some shopping. While in that town, coming along the street leading to
the boat landing, they almost ran into Tad Sobber and old Josiah
Crabtree."

"What! Those rascals in that town--so near to the Stanhope home!"
exclaimed Dick. "And after what has happened! We must have them
arrested!"

"I don't think you can do it, Dick--not from what Grace says in her
letter."

"What does she say?"

"She says she and Dora were very much frightened, especially when they
discovered that both Sobber and old Crabtree had been drinking freely.
The two got right in front of the girls and commenced to threaten them
and threaten us. Nobody else was near, and the girls didn't know what to
do. But at last they got away and ran for the boat, and what became of
Sobber and old Crabtree they don't know."

"What did the rascals say to them?" questioned Tom, who could see that
his brother had not told all of his tale.

"They said that they were going to square up with Dora and with Mrs.
Stanhope, and said they would square up with us, too, and in a way we
little expected. Grace wrote that Sobber pulled a big roll of bank bills
out of his pocket and flourished it in her face. 'Do you see that?' he
asked. 'Well, I can get more where that came from, and I am going to use
that and more, too, just to get even with the Rovers. I'm getting my
trap set for them, and when they fall into it they'll wish they had
never been born! I'll blow them and their whole family sky-high, that's
what I'll do.'"

"Sobber said that?" asked Dick, slowly.

"So Grace writes. No wonder she and Dora were scared to death."

"Oh, maybe he was only blowing, especially if he had been drinking too
much," came from Tom.

"I don't know about that," answered Dick, with a long sigh. "With such a
rascal at liberty,--and with money in his pocket--there is no telling
what will happen."

"What do you suppose he meant by blowing us sky-high?" asked Tom.