Josiah Crabtree was a tall, slim individual, with a sharp face and a very long nose. During the past term at Putnam Hall he had been very dictatorial to the Rover boys, and it must be confessed that they had made life anything but a bed of roses for him. Crabtree had been very desirous of marrying a certain widow by the name of Stanhope, but the marriage was opposed by Dora, the widow's daughter, and as Dick was rather sweet on Dora, he had done all he could to aid the girl in breaking off the match, even going so far as to send Crabtree a bogus letter which had taken the teacher out to Chicago on a hunt for a position in a private college that had never existed. Dick knew that Crabtree was comparatively poor and wished to marry the widow so that he could get his hands on the fortune which the lady held in trust for her only child. "It is Crabtree," said Dick, as he gave a look. "I wonder how he liked his trip to Chicago?" laughed Sam. "Perhaps the Mid-West National College didn't suit his lofty ideas." "Hush! don't let him hear you talk of that," returned Dick. "He might get us into trouble." "What kind of soup, sah?" interrupted the waiter, and then they broke off to give their order, and the waiter hurried off to fill it. "I'd like to know if he has been around the Stanhope cottage again," mused Dick, as he sipped his soup. "Dick can't bear to think of anybody around Dora," laughed Tom. "I don't want _him_ around," retorted the elder Rover, growing red in the face. "He wants the Stanhopes' money and that's all he does want. I don't believe he really loves Mrs. Stanhope." "But why does she encourage him?" came from Sam. "Why don't she send him about his business?" "Oh, she is sickly, as you know, and he seems to have a peculiar hypnotic influence over her, at least that's what Dora thinks." "What are you laughing at, Tom?" "I--I was thinking of the time we put the crabs in old Crabtree's bed," answered the younger brother. "No, you, weren't--" "Well?" demanded Tom, as Dick paused. "You were laughing because I mentioned Dora, and--" "'Pon my honor I wasn't," smiled Tom, but his look belied his words. "You were. If I mention her cousins, Grace and Nellie Laning, I guess the laugh will be on you and Sam--" "We'll call it quits," answered Tom hurriedly. "They're all nice girls, eh, Sam?" "To be sure. But, I say, hadn't we best keep out of old Crabtree's way?" "I don't know as it's necessary," said Dick. "I'm not afraid of him, I'm sure." "Oh, neither am I, if you are going to put it that way," answered the youngest Rover. "If he's stopping here I'm going to have some fun with him," grinned Tom. The evening meal was soon finished, and the boys took a stroll around the grounds. They were just on the point of retiring when Dick drew his brothers' attention to a figure that was stealing through a nearby grove of trees. "There goes Crabtree."