Any news ?" "No, not a word," chirped little Joe Digby, one of the few lads in the Eagle Patrol who had never run afoul of the bully.
"Well," went on Jack, affecting not to notice the silence with which his advances had been greeted, "I hope you find the fellows who did it, whoever they were." "Same here," chimed in Bill Bender, now quite at his ease, "although, at that, I guess it was only a joke, and you'll get 'em back again before long." "Do you think so, Bill ?" asked Merritt, looking the bully's crony steadily in the eye.

"I hope so, I'm sure.

By the way, Hiram Nelson here says that he saw you hurrying up Main Street at just about the time the robbery must have taken place.

You didn't hear any unusual sounds or see anything out of the way, did you ?" "I--why, no--I--you see, I was on my way home from my aunt's home," stuttered Bill, seemingly taken off his guard.
"Yes; your aunt, who left home yesterday afternoon to be gone a week," shot out Merritt.
"Queer that she should have changed her mind and come home in such a hurry." "Oh, come on, Bill," stuck in Sam, seeing that things were getting very unpleasant.

"We've got to hurry up if we're to get out to Jack's in time." Without another word, the three hurried off, seemingly not at all unrelieved to escape from what Merritt was pretty sure were embarrassing questions..