“Do till!” exclaimed their host, shaking his head dolefully as though he disliked knowing that any boys could sink to such a low level.
“Why, only the other day,” said Bobolink, “Jack and I saw the gang pick on a couple of tramps who had just come out of Briggs’ store. So far as we knew the hoboes hadn’t offered to say a word to Hank and his crowd, but the fellows ran them out of town with a shower of stones. Didn’t they, Jack?”
“Yes. And we saw one tramp get a hard blow on the head from a rock, in the bargain,” assented Jack. 115
“Wow! but they were a mad pair, let me tell you,” concluded Bobolink.
“By the same token,” observed Tolly Tip, “till me av one of the tramps had on an ould blue army coat wid rid linin’ to the same?”
Bobolink uttered an exclamation of surprise.
“Just what he did, I give you my word!” he replied hastily.
“And was the other chap a long-legged hobo, wid a face that made ye think av the sharp idge av a hatchet?” the old trapper questioned.
“I reckon you must have seen the pair yourself, Tolly Tip!” observed Bobolink. “Were you in Stanhope, or did they happen to pass this way?”
At that the taker of furs touched his cheek just below his eye with the tip of his finger, and smiled humorously.