"Maybe he will dismiss 'em if he finds out the report is true," ventured another cadet.
"Of course the report is true!" put in Codfish, who had come up. "Didn't one of the hired men see 'em do it?"
"Is that so, Codfish?"
"So they say."
"Oh, it would be just like those Rovers to do something like that," came from Nappy Martell. "They are that kind of fellows."
"I always thought they were pretty good chaps," was the comment of another cadet.
"Good chaps!" sneered Slugger Brown. "That shows you don't know 'em as well as we do. They are sneaks—all of 'em—and wouldn't hesitate a minute to do anything underhanded. I hope Colonel Colby gets after them and fires 'em out;" and then, with a knowing look at Martell, Slugger passed on, and presently his crony followed him.
A good deal of this talk drifted to the ears of the Rover twins and hurt them not a little. But they were in no position to combat what was said.
"Of course we know Jack and Fred are innocent," remarked Randy to his brother. "But in a court of law it is one thing to know it and quite another thing to prove it."
"Yet I've always heard it said that a man was innocent until he was proved guilty," asserted Andy.