"I ain't goin' to say nothin'! I didn't steal the ring!" cried Andy Royce.
"But you know something about it, don't you!" declared Tom, sharply; and caught the former gardener by the arm.
"Say, you lemme go! I ain't goin' to tell you a thing!" cried the man, in alarm. "You ain't goin' to trap me like this. I know wot I'm doin'. Lemme go, I say!" and he tried to break away.
"You're not going a step, Royce, until you tell us the truth," declared Tom, now quite satisfied in his own mind that the former gardener was holding something back.
"If you took that ring you had better confess," broke in Sam.
"I didn't take it, I tell you," muttered Andy Royce. "You ain't goin' to get nothin' out o' me! This is a put-up job! I won't stand for it!" And once again he tried to break away. But each of the boys held him fast.
"I guess the best we can do is to call a policeman and have him locked up," declared Tom, with a knowing look at his brother. He had no intention of having the former gardener arrested, but thought the threat would frighten the fellow. And this was just what it did. At the mention of being locked up, Andy Royce's courage seemed to leave him.
"No! No! Don't you do it! Please, gents, don't have me locked up!" he whined. "I didn't take the ring!"
"But you know what became of it," declared Tom, sternly. "So if you didn't take it, who did?"
"No—nobuddy took it," stammered Andy Royce.