"Then I'll have to take you boys in."
"That's your privilege—and your risk, as Dick has explained," laughed Dave.
Green fidgeted. He didn't want to make any mistakes, but he did wish that these Grammar School boys could be scared more easily.
"Will you come back to the station with me, without going in arrest?" asked the operator.
"Why?" questioned Prescott, pointedly.
"Because I'm going to send for the chief of police, and I shall want him to talk with you," Green answered.
"The chief of police knows where to find any of us when he wants to," hinted Darrin.
"If Mr. Green asks us to go to the railway station with him, without being placed under arrest, I don't see what harm that can do, fellows. What do you say if we accept Mr. Green's invitation?"
"All right," agreed some of the six. Even Dave consented.
Ten minutes later the chief of police was on hand. He inspected the broken lights just before the operator placed out new ones. Mr. Green stated what he knew of the affair. Then the chief turned to Dick & Co. He put many questions. Some of these Dick and his friends answered promptly. They even told how they had spoken against the proposed prank, and how they had left when they had found that the other boys couldn't be stopped. But as to the matter of naming the other boys all six refused.