"There isn't much wind now," added Stanley. "How was it, Tom?"
"I—er—I—the wind didn't blow the cap," was the lame answer. Just then Tom wished he was a thousand miles away. He could not look his chums in the face.
"It didn't blow the cap?" demanded Spud. "What do you mean?"
To this Tom did not answer. Sam wanted to speak, but did not know what to say. Songbird looked curiously at Tom.
"Say, look here!" burst out Stanley, striding forward. "Do you mean to say, Tom Rover, that you put that cap on the old well on purpose?"
"I—I—did," answered Tom feebly. "I—er—I thought it was a—a joke."
"A joke?" cried Spud, sarcastically.
"A joke, to put us in peril of drowning, or smothering to death!" roared Stanley. "If you call that a joke I don't, and I want you to know it!" And in a sudden passion he doubled up his fists and sprang towards Tom.
But Sam rushed between the pair.
"Stanley, don't, please don't!" he cried. "Tom made a mistake,—he knows it now."