"T'ank yo' fo' dat, Master Rober—I'se glad to see dat I'se got one friend—"
"Three friends, Aleck—we all stood up for you," interrupted
Tom.
"T'ank yo', t'ank yo'!"
"And we discovered who the real thief was," added Sam.
"Wot, yo' dun found, dat out!" burst out Pop. "An' who was de black-hearted rascal?"
"Jim Caven."
"Dat cadet wot tried to be funny wid me an' I had to show him his place? Hol' on—I dun see him comin' from de attic one day."
"When he must have put those stolen articles in your trunk," said Tom. "Yes, he was guilty, Captain Putnam was going to have him arrested, but he got away."
Nothing would do for Alexander Pop after this but that the boys give him the full particulars of the affair, to which he listened with the closest attention. But at the conclusion his face fell.
"Ise mighty glad I am cleared," he said. "But I'd give a good deal to face de cap'n—jest to see wot he would say, eh?"