Pete had stuck a short pipe into his mouth, and now indiscreetly struck a parlor match and held it to the pipe. The intellectual leader struck the pipe and the match with his open hand and drove them into the face of Pete, and immediately the conference broke up.
The two boys lay quiet until the men had passed the big lamp at the landing, and then crawled out.
“Say, Jack,” said Tommy, and the sound of his voice broke the silence so suddenly that Jack started and clutched at his friend’s arm, “them fellows’ll be hidin’ out same as us, if they don’t watch out.”
“Shall we tell on ’em?”
“Sure! Aint the company’s business our business?”
“Yes; still we wouldn’t like to have somebody tell on us.”
“But what have we done, Jack Connor? We ordered the drinks an’ paid for ’em—both of us.”
“An’ pulled the door down. You often hear of fellows bein’ sent up for breakin’ into houses.”
“We didn’t break in; we broke out, to gain our freedom. Liberty, Heidelberg says, is the rightful heritage of American citizens.”
Now, the boys, full of a great tale, stole softly up the shadow side of the street, and to bed.