The voices of the men had sounded from a front room downstairs. Ned was in an apartment across the hall from them. They had shut the door leading from the hall to the room where they were. This gave Ned a chance to come out of the apartment into which he had been taken and he tiptoed to the closed door to see if he could hear any more.
But either the men were conversing in whispers or they had moved back to some remote corner where their voices could not be heard.
"I guess I'd better get out of here while I have the chance," Ned thought, and moving softly he left the building.
As he hurried along the street toward Fenn's house, determined to join his friends at the dinner, he could not help thinking of what he had overheard. It drove all thoughts of his capture from his mind.
"Wright & Johnson," Ned murmured to himself. "I've heard that name before, or else I've seen it somewhere. I wonder where. Wright & Johnson? Did I see their sign when I was in New York, I wonder. No! I have it! It was the name on the envelope of that letter Frank got the day we were in swimming. That's it!"
Ned had struck the right clue. He referred to an occasion, told of in the first volume of this series, when, as the four chums were in swimming one day, a special delivery messenger from the post-office had brought Frank a letter. On reading the epistle Frank had seemed much excited. He had immediately left his companions and, when they followed him from the water a little later, they found he had dropped the envelope, Bart had picked it up, and shown it to his companions. In one corner was the name of Wright & Johnson, lawyers, of 11 Pine Street, New York.
The boys had followed Frank back to town, and had seen him come from the office of Judge Benton, a lawyer, and mail a letter in the post-office. Bart gave Frank back the envelope, but the latter had told his chums nothing of his queer letter. Nor did he afterward refer to it, though the four friends had few secrets from each other. From that time on Frank's queerness had increased, until, on the return of the chums from New York, where Ned's disappearance was cleared up, his conduct caused his friends some anxiety.
"There must be some secret in Frank's life," thought Ned. "The letter from Wright & Johnson, his growing queerness, and now the strange talk of these men, all point to that. I wish I had found out who they were. Maybe they are going to do Frank some harm!"
He paused, with half a mind to go back and see if he could learn the identity of the men. Then he reflected it would not be wise to be caught by them playing the spy.
"I'll tell the fellows about it," Ned thought. "Maybe we can find out what it means. I wonder if I had better tell Frank? I guess I'll not until I consult Bart and Fenn. Frank didn't tell us about the letter, and perhaps he would not like it if he found out I had discovered something, though, to be sure, it's not much."
Thus pondering over what he had heard, Ned hurried on, and, in a little while was at the barn, where the feasting was still in progress. The crowd was making merry in spite of the damper which Ned's capture had cast on the dinner. At his entrance, however, there burst out a cheer and cries of welcome.
"I've been keeping your chair warm for you!" shouted Bart.
"Come on in! Tell us all about it!" sung out Fenn.
"Did you fight 'em off?" inquired Lem.
"Oh, I managed to get away," replied Ned, and he told of being taken to the vacant house, and of his escape. He said not a word of the two men.
With their toastmaster thus restored to them, the baseball boys and their friends went merrily on with the dinner. There was much laughter and every one seemed talking at once of the fight with the Upside Down boys.
"We've got to play a trick on them that will make this one fade out of sight," commented Bart. "We'll fix 'em!"
"That's what we will!" exclaimed Fenn. "I wish they had tried to take the dinner and had fallen into our traps."
"We didn't have much use for 'em, for a fact," put in Lem. "Never mind, we had some fun out of it, anyhow."
Ned joined with the others in talking over the episode but he noticed that Frank was unusually quiet. When he got a chance he slipped around to where his chum was sitting and asked:
"Anything the matter, Frank?"
"No. What makes you ask me that?"
"Why I thought you looked worried over something."
"No, I'm all right," replied Frank, with forced heartiness. After that he tried to join in the talk and fun, but it was too obviously an effort to deceive Ned.
"Something's wrong with Frank," Ned decided in his own mind. "We've got to find out what it is in spite of him, and help him. I must speak to Bart and Fenn as soon as I have the chance."
It was not until all the other boys, including Frank, had left the barn and gone home, late that night, that Ned found the opportunity he wanted. Then he told his two chums of what he had heard at the new house.
"What do you make of it?" asked Bart.
"I'll admit I'm suspicious," said Ned. "It looks as though Frank was mixed up in something."
"Do you mean something bad?" asked Bart.
"No, I don't know's I'd call it that. But something suspicious, anyhow. You remember that letter from Wright & Johnson?"
"The one of which we found the envelope?" Bart inquired.
"That's the one. Well, these men evidently are mixed up in the case. It seems to concern property. Maybe Frank has some property and will not give it up."
"If Frank has any property he has a right to it!" said Fenn with emphasis. "Frank's done nothing wrong, but he certainly is acting queer."
"Then I don't know what to make of that reference to a sanitarium. They shut the door at that point and I couldn't hear any more."
The three boys discussed the subject from all sides, but could come to no solution of the mystery. That the men had referred to Frank, Ned was sure, and his chums partly agreed with him.
"Of course there are a number of boys named Frank," said Bart. "But when they spoke of Frank's uncle, Mr. Dent, it must be they meant our Frank."
"There's another thing," spoke Ned. "They mentioned pulling the wool over Mr. Dent's eyes. I wonder if we had better warn him."
"What could we tell him?" asked Fenn.
"I could tell what I heard," replied Ned.
"Which wouldn't be enough to do any good, and it might cause a lot of trouble," said Bart. "I think we'd better let this thing alone. Frank may tell us something that will give us an opening to talk to him about this matter, and you can then tell him what you heard the men say."
"I guess that's the best plan," admitted Ned.
"Perhaps we could learn something more of the men who were in the house," suggested Fenn.
"How?"
"By going down there and making inquiries. I know those buildings. There's a watchman hired to stay on guard all night. Perhaps he saw the men and could tell us who they were."
"It's a good idea," said Ned. "We'll go down and see him to-morrow night. That will be Sunday, and there's not likely to be any one around to hear us question him."
"We must not take Frank along," remarked Bart. "We'll have to keep this thing quiet from him, at least until we know more about it."
"It's the first time we haven't all been in a thing together," commented Ned. "It seems queer to have something on Frank doesn't know about."
"We're doing the best we know how," said Bart. "It's for Frank's interest we're working. I hope it will all come out right."
Sunday evening the three chums went to the building where Ned had been taken by the Upside Down boys. Frank had not called on any of his chums since the dinner the night before.
The boys found the night watchman, who had just come on duty. Ned knew him, for the man, James Rafferty, had once been employed as a porter in the bank of which Ned's father was cashier.
"Good evening, Mr. Rafferty," said Ned. "It's a fine night."
"It is that, me lad. An' what brings ye down here?"
"To see you."
"Sure, thin, an' ye must have some object. Few indade want's to see ould Rafferty now. He's gittin' too old fer much use."
"We wanted to ask if you saw anything of two strange men around these buildings last night?"
"Nary a wan did I see, Masther Ned. Sure there was a slatherin' lot of lads bint on some joke, an' I didn't interfere wid 'em, knowin' they was up t' no harm. But I saw no men."
"That blocks this end of the game," said Bart in a low tone, as he and his chums came away.
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