“They say Dick Rover was kind to him.”

“Bah!  That’s a fairy story.”

“But your father says the same—­so I have been told.”

“The old man is out of his head—­on account of that fire.  When he gets clear-headed again he won’t think Dick Rover—­or any of the Rovers, for the matter of that—­is his friend.”

There was another pause.

“Where do you propose to go to?”

“Philadelphia, on a little business first, and then to Pittsburg, and to that place where they have their houseboat.”

“And after that?”

“I’m going to be guided by circumstances.  But you can rest assured of one thing, Flapp—­I’ll make those Rover boys wish they had never undertaken this trip.”

Dan Baxter brought out a pocketbook well filled with bank bills and counted out five five-dollar bills.

“My, but you’re rich!” cried the bully of Putnam Hall.

“Oh, I’ve got a good bit more than that,” was the bragging answer.  “I want you to know that once upon a time my father was as rich as the Rovers, and he would be as rich now if it wasn’t that they cheated him out of his rights to a gold mine,” went on Dan Baxter, bringing up something which has already been fully explained in “The Rover Boys Out West.”  The claim belonged to the Rovers, but the Baxters would never admit this.

“Did they really cheat him?” questioned Lew Flapp, with interest.

“They certainly did.”

“Then why didn’t you go to law about it with them?”

“They stole all the evidence, so we couldn’t do a thing in law.  Do you wonder that I am down on them?”

“No, I don’t.  If I were you, I’d try to get my rights back.”

“I’m going to get them back some day,” answered Dan Baxter.  “And I am going to square up with all the Rovers, too, mind that!”

CHAPTER XIII

CHIPS AND THE CIRCUS BILLS

It is now time that we return to Sam and find out how he fared after being so unexpectedly hurled into the river by Lew Flapp.

The youngest Rover was taken so completely off his guard that he could, for the moment, do nothing to save himself.  Down he went and his yell was cut short by the waters closing over his head.

He was dazed and bewildered and swallowed some of the water almost before he was aware.  But then his common-sense returned to him and he struggled to rise to the surface.

As he neared the top, the current carried him against a sharp rock.  Instead of clutching this, he hit the rock with his head.  The blow almost stunned him, and down he went once more, around the rock and along the river a distance of fully a hundred feet ere he again appeared.

By this time he realized that he was having a battle for his life, and he clutched out wildly for the first thing that came to hand, It was a tree root and by its aid he pulled himself to the surface of the river and gazed around him.