"One of them looks like Mr. Tetlow," observed Frank, referring to the principal of the Fairview school.
Sammy smiled a wise smile into which he tried to put a little contempt for the judgment of his chums.
"You judge things from the outside," he said in a superior way. "But I'm not going by the way they look. I've got something better than that. I know what I heard them say."
"What was it they said?" asked George.
"I'll tell you when we get back in our own car," promised Sammy, importantly.
The ice cream and pie were brought in just then, and the boys applied themselves to them, but not as whole-heartedly as they had to the rest of the meal before Sammy had told them his startling news. Over every mouthful they cast swift glances at the malefactors who were now sipping their coffee with quiet enjoyment.
George, who, being the eldest, carried the purse for the party, paid the check, not forgetting a modest tip to the grinning waiter who had served them so bountifully, and the little party with one last glance at the pair of alleged culprits filed their way back to their own car. There they fell on Sammy at once and demanded that he tell them from start to finish all that he had heard.
Sammy complied, doling his news out bit by bit, so as to keep their appetites sharp, and when he was through they had to confess that it certainly looked very serious.
"But it doesn't seem that either one of them did the actual killing," objected George. "It was this Billy, whoever it was, that they say killed him."
"Yes. But they were all in it and that makes one as bad as another. Billy may have been the one to use the knife—I heard him say that the man was all cut up—but the others were there and laughed when the poor fellow squealed and kicked."