"I—I didn't think it of Nick!" whispered Poole. "He certainly went too far."
"He was so wild he didn't know what he was doing," answered Plum. "It doesn't pay to get that way. If he had really killed Porter——"
"Oh, don't say it, Gus! Why, it makes me tremble yet," whined Nat Poole. "If Nick is going to act like that, I'm going to have nothing more to do with him. What if something had happened? He might have dragged us into it somehow—we've been so thick with him."
To this Gus Plum did not answer, but a far-away, thoughtful look came into his eyes.
"It doesn't pay to be too thick with a fellow like that," pursued Nat Poole. "He'll get you into a hole some time or other."
"Maybe you're right, Nat." Gus Plum drew a long breath. "I wish——" The bully of Oak Hall suddenly checked himself.
"What do you wish?"
"I sometimes wish I had never been thick with Nick. But he——" Again Plum checked himself. "By the way," he resumed, "did that new allowance come in yet?"
"No. My dad wrote he wouldn't allow me a cent until next month. Why?"
"Oh, it doesn't matter." The bully drew another long breath. "I thought perhaps you'd lend me a little."