"By the way, do you know a man named Dangler?" he asked.
"Sure, I do," was the answer.
"Does he live around here?"
"I guess he lives where he pleases. He is an old bachelor and comes and goes as he likes. He used to have a cottage down the pike, but it burnt down last winter."
"Then you haven't any idea where he is stopping now?"
"No."
"Do you know a man named Merrick and another man named Pike?" went on the eldest Rover boy.
At this the old woman shook her head.
"Never heard tell of them," she said.
"Has this Dangler any relatives around here?" asked Tom.
"None that I know of."
"Do you know what kind of man he is?" asked Sam.
"I never talk about my neighbors," answered the old woman, and drew up her thin lips and went on shelling peas.
Feeling it would be useless to ask any more questions, the three boys journeyed wearily on to the next farmhouse. This belonged to a fat German named Gus Schmidt, who knew the Rovers fairly well.
