Those who had been at the feast hardly knew what to say or to do. Should they tell the captain of the strange figure Sam had seen in the hallway?
"I'll tell him, and shoulder the blame, if you fellows are willing," said Sam, after a long discussion. "Fun is one thing, and shielding a thief is another."
"But what can you tell?" asked Fred. "You do not know that that person, was the thief."
"More than likely he was," came from Dick.
"And if he was, who was he?" went on Fred. "If you tell Captain
Putnam you'll simply get us all into trouble."
"I vote that Sam makes a clean breast of it," said Frank, and Larry said the same. This was just before dinner, and immediately after the midday meal had been finished the youngest Rover went up to the master of the Hall and touched him on the arm.
"I would like to speak to you in private and at once, Captain
Putnam," he said.
"Very well, Rover; come with me," was the reply, and Captain
Putnam led the way to his private office.
"I suppose I should have spoken of this before," said Sam, when the two were seated. "But I didn't want to get the others into trouble. As it is, Captain Putnam, I want to take the entire blame on my own shoulders."
"The blame of what, Samuel?"