“If you wish to confess, yes.”
“I have nothing to confess.”
“Then I do not care to listen. You are a pair of bad boys, and in the absence of Captain Putnam I am bound to make an example of you.”
“If Captain Putnam was here he would listen to us,” said Jack.
“I am capable of taking charge of this affair,” answered the teacher, coldly. A little brief authority always made him strong-headed.
“I repeat, I am guilty of no wrongdoing,” said Jack, simply. “There is some mistake somewhere.”
“And I am innocent, too,” added Pepper.
“After this, I want you two boys to behave yourselves,” resumed Josiah Crabtree. “If you don’t——”
“What then?” asked Jack.
“I’ll make you.”