CHAPTER XVII

A MISUNDERSTANDING

“Here’s a letter from father—­quite an important one, too,” said Dick as he joined his brothers in one of the rooms several days later.

“What about?” questioned Sam, while Tom looked up from a book with interest.

“It’s about Tad Sobber and that fortune from Treasure Isle,” answered Dick.

“What!  Has that rascal showed up again?” exclaimed Tom.

“He has; and according to what father says, he is going to make all the trouble possible for the Stanhopes and the Lanings,”

“That’s too bad,” said Sam.

“I’ll read the letter,” went on Dick, and proceeded to do so.  In part the communication ran as follows: 

“You wrote that you knew about Sobber’s call upon Mrs. Stanhope.  Well, after the girls left for Hope Seminary, Sobber and a lawyer named Martin Snodd called upon Mr. Laning and then upon me.  Sobber was very bitter, and he wanted to know all about what had been done with the treasure.  He claims that he and his uncle, who is dead, were robbed of the boxes.  Evidently Sobber and the lawyer had talked the matter over carefully, for the latter intimated that Sobber might settle the case if the Stanhopes and the Lanings would give him seventy-five per cent. of the fortune.  Mr. Laning did not wish to go to law, and told Sobber he might be willing to settle for a small amount, say two or three thousand dollars.  But Sobber wouldn’t listen to this, and went off declaring he would have it all.

“’Since that time Martin Snodd has been busy, and he has obtained a temporary injunction against the Stanhopes and the Lanings, so that they cannot touch a dollar of the money, which, as you know, is now in several banks.  The matter will now have to await the result of the case, which will probably be tried in court some months from now.

“’I have learned that Sobber has little or no money, and that Martin Snodd has taken the case on speculation, Sobber to allow him half of whatever he gets out of it.  Snodd’s reputation is anything but good, so I am afraid he will have a lot of evidence manufactured to order.  I have recommended a firm of first-class lawyers to Mrs. Stanhope and the Lanings, and they will, of course, fight the matter to the bitter end.”

“This is too bad!” cried Sam after Dick had finished.  “So the fortune is tied up so they can’t spend a cent of what’s left?”

“They can’t touch a cent until the courts decide who the fortune really belongs to,” answered Dick, “and if Sobber should win, the Stanhopes and the Lanings will have to pay back that which they have already used.”

“Oh, how can Sobber win?” cried Tom.  “Father said the Stanhope and Laning claims were perfectly legal.”

“True, Tom; but you can never tell how a case is going to turn out in court.  If this Martin Snodd is a shyster he may have all sorts of evidence cooked up against our friends.  Sobber would most likely swear to anything, and so would some of the sailors saved from the Josephine.  And then there are some of Sid Merrick’s other relatives, who would try to benefit by the case.  They’d probably testify in favor of Sobber, for they wouldn’t expect anything from Mrs. Stanhope or the Lanings.”