“No jury would ever convict you on such flimsy testimony.”
“Perhaps not, but I don’t even want to go to trial. I want the real robbers discovered.”
“I hope they will be. By the way, did Mr. Savage answer your letter which you wrote him, making a formal demand for your books?”
“Yes. He said he would not give them up.”
“Then I shall compel him to by legal means. The books are yours, and you shall have them.”
It was several days after this that Dan was thinking over the matter of the books. He did not want his friend, the blacksmith, to have to go to the expense of a lawsuit to recover the volumes.
“I’ve been bother enough to him,” thought Dan. “I believe I can get those books myself. I have a right to them, and I’m going to get them.”
He was alone in the smithy, doing a simple job of repairing with which Mr. Harrison had entrusted him. The blacksmith was away from home, having gone to a distant town to see a man in reference to selling him the shop. After finishing the work Dan sat down and did some thinking.
“I believe I’ll do it,” he said to himself, coming to a sudden decision. “Mr. Harrison will not be at home to-night, and, if there is any trouble over it, he will not be involved. I can stay out as late as I like and he will ask no questions. I’ll do it to-night.”
What Dan had resolved upon was rather a rash thing, but he did not think so at the time. Boys, when they feel that they are in the right, often go ahead regardless of consequences. It was so in Dan’s case.