"You even seem to like him," pressed Darry.
"I do like him," Dick assented. "Darry, I believe that a lot of good might be found in Tag Mosher if he could have the same chance that most other fellows have. Usually, when a fellow says he has had no chance in life, the fact really is that he has been too lazy to take his chance. But I don't believe that Tag ever had a real, sure-enough chance. He has spent his days with a drunkard and a vagabond."
"Yet Tag has been to school," objected Tom Reade. "Tag talks like a fellow who has had a very fair amount of schooling. Schools teach something more than mere book lessons. They give a fellow some of the first principles of truth and honor. Despite his schooling, however, Tag prefers to steal as a means of supplying all his needs. And now, at last, he is in jail, charged, perhaps, with killing a fellow being."
"I wonder if Mr. Leigh is dead yet?" mused Dick. "I like being off here in the deep forest like this, but there's one drawback. We don't hear much news."
"What news do you want?" asked a familiar voice behind him.
Soft-footed Deputy Simmons stalked into the circle.
"We were just wondering, Mr. Simmons," spoke Prescott, rising, "if Mr. Leigh is dead yet?"
"Not yet," replied the peace officer, "but the doctors say that he is likely to die any day now."
"Then will Tag be charged with manslaughter—-or murder?"
"He may be charged with murder, if we can catch him," replied the deputy.
"If you can ca——-Why, what's up?" asked Dick eagerly.