“Say, I ain’t——”
“Answer my question.” And Andy raised his stick as if to hit the fellow on the head.
“I—I ain’t got the stuff,” cried the tramp in alarm. “Don’t hit me. I—I turned the stuff over to Levi, the fence.”
“Levi, the fence?” queried Andy.
“A fence, in criminals’ language, is a receiver of stolen goods,” explained Jack. “Where is this Levi?” he asked.
“Over in Albany. He was in Cedarville when I give him the goods. He promised me twenty dollars, but I only got five. He ought to be pinched,” went on the tramp, meaning by “pinched” he should be arrested.
“You come with us,” said Andy, and between them the cadets marched the tramp back to the camp in the hollow.
At the hangout they found that four of the tramps had been caught and made prisoners. The others had escaped, and what became of them nobody found out.
“I have heard of that fellow Levi,” said the deputy sheriff. “He has been wanted for some time. I think the Albany police are now after him.”
Seeing it would be useless to conceal matters longer, the tramp called Flatnose made a full confession, in which he told of attacking Andy just as had been supposed. He had found the tree limb in the woods near the road, and had thrust it out from the bushes just when the bicyclist was passing.