"It isn't so awfully bad," said Glen, feeling that his new friend was poking fun. "I ran away from the reform school, that's all."
"I don't know how bad that is," was the reply. "The question is are you reformed, are you reforming, or are you worse than ever?"
"I want to reform," declared Glen, the first confession of the kind he had ever made.
"I suppose the best way to do it would be to go back to the school," suggested Jolly Bill.
"That's what Mr. Gates said," admitted Glen. "But I don't want to be taken back."
"That sounds pretty fair. You don't want to be taken; you want to go. I want to go, but I have to be taken. I was hoping you were the boy to do some taking for me."
"You mean take you around," exclaimed Glen.
"That's about what I mean. I'm an important personage and wherever I travel I have to have a body guard."
"I'd like to do it better than anything in the world!"
"I believe you're just the boy if the reform school could wait for you a week or two. I have a plan that will make me a fortune; but I can't work it out without a strong, energetic boy to help me."