"Bless me if I know," declared Dan. "We were to do something--get you. We were to take you somewhere--we do it. After that we're paid off, and that's our end of it."
Frank did some thinking and surmising; but he could only theorize. He saw that now he was in the mix-up he must see it through.
How far they traveled in the next eight hours he could only guess at. The vehicle had two horses attached; they were pretty good travelers, and the road was a smooth and level one and in excellent condition.
A little after dark the team halted, and Jem went to some place near by and bought some doughnuts. He gave them to Dan, who divided up with Frank. Then Frank went to sleep, awoke, and went to sleep again on the heap of blankets in the bottom of the wagon, to be aroused by Dan shaking his arm vigorously and saying:
"Wake up, youngster."
"What time is it?" inquired Frank.
"Just struck midnight by the village clock," Dan informed him.
"What village?" asked Frank.
"You're not to know that, youngster," responded Dan with a chuckle, as though he considered the prisoner a pretty keen lad. "You'll have to put on this headgear again," and Frank did not demur as the bag was drawn over his head.
Then our hero was lifted out of the wagon, and Jem took hold of one hand and Dan of the other, and he was led across a yard, up a pair of outside stairs, along a porch, and then there was a pause. Jem knocked at a door.
There was some delay, and then the door was opened.
"We're the men from Brady," said Jem.
"Pretty outlandish hour to disturb a man," snapped a sharp and domineering voice in return.
"Acting on orders, judge," said Jem.
"This is the lad, is it?"
"It's him, judge," answered Jem, and they entered some kind of a room.
Frank was pushed down into a chair. Then Dan removed the bag from his head.
Frank looked about him with a good deal of curiosity.
He found himself in a room that he decided must be a lawyer's office. It had cases full of law books. On a table stood a shaded lamp, and beside it was the man who had admitted them.
This was a wiry, shrewd-looking individual, whose hair was all touseled and who was only partially dressed, as if he had been aroused from sleep. He moved to a chair and drew toward him a little package of documents with a rubber band around it.
"This is the lad Foreman, is it?" he demanded.
"It's him, judge," declared Jem.
"Very good. Young man, I am acting for a client. Understand one thing. You appear before me voluntarily. If at any future time any--er--misunderstanding, complications arise out of this extraordinary midnight--er--invasion, I simply act as attorney for my client. Here's a document. It is to be signed by you. In consideration of the same, at a later date, my client is to remit to some school or other the money to pay for your schooling four years in advance."
"Don't say a word but 'uh-huh,'" whispered Dan quickly to Frank. "You'll be glad if you do it. It's all right."
"Uh-huh," said Frank obediently, but thinking somethings that would have startled the men with him if they had guessed them.
"_Ipse dixit, de facto,_ as we say in the law," proceeded the judge pompously. "That's all, I think."
The speaker dipped a pen in ink. He set before Frank a two-paged document.
Its first page was turned over. Its second page our hero was not given time to read, but Frank's keen glance took in words and phrases that plainly indicated to him that the document alluded to a guardianship of some kind.
Frank signed a name that was no name at all. It was a meaningless scrawl.
He believed it would bring about a crisis, but he was now ready for just that. The document was drawn from his hand, but before the judge could look at it there was a ring at a telephone at the end of the room. The judge hastily thrust the document into a drawer and hastened to the telephone.
He spoke to somebody over the phone and nodded to Jem, and said:
"It's Brady."
"No need of us waiting," responded Jem. "Here's my half of that card, judge. I suppose you know the arrangement."
For reply the judge walked to a safe standing in the corner of the room, opened it, took out a little box and handed it to Jem.
Frank felt somehow that this was the diamond bracelet that had been stolen from Samuel Mace back at Tipton. The thought connected with the talk he had overheard at the cabin near Bellwood about two pieces of card. He theorized that it was the reward to Jem and Dan for agreeing to kidnap Ned Foreman.
"Got it?" spoke Dan eagerly, edging up to Jem. "Then our part's done. Let's get away from here."
Frank took a last glance around the room. It was to note a row of law books that had written on their calfskin backs the name "Grimm." Frank treasured this clue. He did not doubt that it was the name of the "judge." He did not know what town he was in, or how far away from Bellwood, but he believed he now had learned the name of the "judge," and that it would afford a starting point in a later investigation.
Frank smiled to himself as, the bag again over his face, he was taken back to the covered wagon. He wondered what the "judge" and Brady would say when they found a meaningless scrawl to the document they had gone to so much trouble to have signed.
He made up his mind that, although he was a minor, the signature of Ned Foreman to that paper meant something important. It probably gave some power to Brady over Ned. What this was Frank felt sure that he could soon find out, and he planned upon his return to Bellwood School to go straight to Professor Elliott with the whole story.
"Now, then, youngster," observed Dan as the wagon started up, "you've behaved fine. Nobody is hurt, and you've done yourself some good. I'll promise you that your schooling bills will be paid, and you just want to forget everything that's happened to-night. Don't be foolish and stir things up. It'll be no use. You'll be provided for until you're of age, and that's a good deal for a fellow who was grubbing for every cent yesterday."
Frank went to sleep after that. He was roused by Dan in broad daylight, and Jem opened the back of the wagon. Dan walked a few steps with Frank.
"You're about two miles from your school," he said. "I've taken quite an interest in you. If I was the right sort, I'd kind of like to adopt you.
Good-by."
"Good-by," answered Frank, starting in the direction of Bellwood School.
Frank walked on for a distance. He observed that the wagon had not started up immediately, and he believed that the two men would satisfy themselves that he was not delaying or lurking around before they resumed their journey.
Frank chuckled to himself. He had gone through a night of considerable mystery, but he fancied he had gathered up some pretty important points as to the reason for all the planning and plotting regarding Ned Foreman. He felt pretty well satisfied with himself.
"I don't want to pat myself on the shoulder any," was the way he put it to himself, "but I think I've done pretty well for a young fellow about my size. They would have it that I was Ned Foreman. They would have me sign that paper. I didn't tell any lies, but I wonder what that lawyer will say when he reads that signature? Grim he'll be, sure enough."
Frank at first was quite content to return to the academy. The wagon had started up at a clattering rate and he did not attempt to follow it.
Suddenly, however, a crash and then the echo of loud voices halted him.
"Something happened to that wagon," decided Frank. "Jem and Dan are discussing things at a great rate, too. I'm going to see what's up."
Frank made a short cut through the shrubbery and reached the road at the point whither the loud voices of the two men led him. He came upon the wagon with one hind wheel stuck in a muddy rut and the other one smashed at the hub. From the shelter of a handy bush Frank surveyed the situation and listened to what the recent captors were saying.
"There's no use, Jem," remarked Dan. "She's a goner and you've just got to leave her here."
"But what about getting to Rockton?"