"I guess maybe they would have done it, too, if Jim Donavan hadn't come along just in time."
"Maybe it was Bill who fixed up the dog," said Hank.
"No, I did it," I told them.
We had been walking along while Benny was talking. What he said surprised us some and would have made us mad at any other time. Benny had been so worried about Bill that he hadn't said anything about himself before, and neither had any of us.
"The first thing to do," said Skinny, "is to go to Jim's house and start from there. If Bill went through the Gingham Ground I'll bet that some of the Gang saw him."
The place which we call the Gingham Ground is a settlement near some big gingham mills. There are two long rows of brick tenement houses with a street between. We knew that Skinny was right, because Bill would have had to walk down that street between the rows of houses, and some one would have been sure to see him. He might have stopped at Jim's, or, anyhow, would have called to him when he passed.
It didn't take us long to get there, and as we came near we could see the Gang getting together. You see, they thought we were after them on account of what they had done to Benny.
We didn't pay much attention to them but went straight to Jim's house and found him eating dinner. He was surprised to see us and was glad.
"Wait until I call the Gang," said he, after we had told him about Bill.
In a few minutes they had all come up, as friendly as could be when they found out that we were not looking for a fight.