"I hope not. And now let's see how we can help him."
"Say, what about the school pin?" asked Bert. "Have you really lost yours?"
"No, I haven't."
"Then why———"
"It's this way," went on Jack. "I saw that Tom's was gone, and, fearing that it might look bad for him, I pretended it was a common thing for us to lose or mislay our emblems."
"You did?"
"Sure. I wasn't going to make it look too bad for Tom."
"That's right. But are you going to mention it to him?"
"I am not—not until this thing is cleared up, anyhow."
"Jove! It looks bad!" murmured Bert.