rs stared at them in amazement, and his face dropped in
consternation.

"Porter!" he gasped. "And Morr and Lawrence! Wha--what does
this--er--mean?"

"Perhaps you know as well as we do," answered Dave, sharply.

"You have been spying on me!"

"We are here by permission of Mr. Fordham," returned Roger.

"How did you know I was to call?"

"Never mind about that," put in Phil. "We are here, and that is enough."

"And we know all about what you are trying to do," added Dave.

"This is a plot--a plot against me--to ruin me!" spluttered the former
teacher of Oak Hall. "Oh, you needn't try to disguise it! I know all of
you!"

"We have no plot against you, Mr. Haskers," replied Dave, calmly. "If
your business is perfectly legitimate----"

"Never mind about that!" interposed Job Haskers, hastily. He jammed the
paper and his fountain pen in his pocket. "You can't make a fool of me!
You have been following me up, and you mean to--to--do what you can
to--er--get me into trouble." He backed towards the doorway.

"What is your hurry, sir?" asked Mr. Passmore, and he quietly placed
himself in front of the door.

"Let me pass! Let me pass!" shrilled Job Haskers, and now he looked
thoroughly scared.

"Don't you wish to talk this matter over?" questioned Mr. Fordham,
wonderingly.

"No, sir. I am not going to stay here to be made a fool of!" cried the
former instructor. "Let me pass, I demand it!" he added, to Bert's
father.

"Oh, all right, if you insist," answered Mr. Passmore, and stepped
aside. At once Job Haskers threw the door open and retreated to the
hallway.

"Just wait, you young scamps! I'll get even with you for this!" he
exclaimed, shaking a long finger at Dave, Roger, and Phil. "I'll show
you yet! You just wait!" And with that threat he literally ran down the
hallway and down the stairs and out of the hotel.

"Say, he's some mad, believe me!" was Roger's grim comment.

"I think he is more scared than anything else," returned Dave. "He acted
as if he thought we had trapped him in some way."

"Just how it struck me," put in Phil. "He certainly didn't lose any time
in getting away, did he?" and the shipowner's son grinned broadly.

"He had a guilty conscience," was Mr. Passmore's comment. "Mr. Fordham,
I think you can congratulate yourself that he has left."

"I think so myself, sir," replied the old gentleman. He looked kindly at
Dave and his chums. "It looks to me as if you had saved me from being