“What’ll you do with him?” asked Holt. “Steal his clothes and make him walk home at night?”
“Black him up with soot and send him back,” suggested another, “That stuff is awful hard to get off.”
“I’ll make a good job, all right,” muttered Herring. “Just you leave it to me.”
Some of the better sort of boys were seen approaching at that moment, and Herring said in a low tone:
“Come on, let’s get out. Go in different directions. Those fellows might get a notion that we were fixing up something.”
The boys went off in different directions, and Harry, who was one of the other boys, said to Arthur:
“If Pete Herring and those sneaks are not plotting against the new fellow, I’ll miss my guess.”
“Well, it may not be against him,” replied Arthur, “but it probably has to do with some of the new fellows or with the little ones. Herring and his crowd are always pestering them.”
“If they try to make any trouble for Jack, they will get all that’s coming to them,” laughed Billy Manners.
“Yes, you found out that he could take care of himself, didn’t you?” asked Arthur with a chuckle.