"Why, Jack!" began Bert. "I saw your pin on you this af———"
He subsided quickly, for, as Tom turned aside Jack administered a swift kick to Bert, at the same time hissing into his ear: "Shut up, you chump! Why do you want to bother answering a fellow like him?"
"Oh—er—all right," stammered Bert, and he looked from Jack to Tom, wonderingly.
"All right. You may think you're smart, but you'll find that th' law's smarter than any of ye!" threatened the farmer, as he turned aside with a scowl.
"Nice sort of chap—not," murmured Tom, as he strode on, his companions hurrying to catch up to him.
"I should say so," agreed Jack. "Why, any fellow might lose his pin—not necessarily at Appleby's hay stacks—and that, in his eyes, would make him guilty. I don't even know where my school pin is at this moment."
Once more Bert looked at Jack, and he wondered much, for he was sure he had seen Jack's pin gleaming on his sweater a short time before the farmer appeared, and yet now Jack said he did not have it.
"It's too much for me!" murmured Bert. He was not much given to solving puzzles, and this one was beyond him. Why had Jack pretended not to have his pin, when all the while Bert was sure he had seen it? Could it be that———?
"Oh, pshaw!" exclaimed Bert, to himself. "I'm not going to get into deep water over this. I'll wait and see what happens."
And, though he did not know it, much was to happen soon.