“Mr. Mayor,” exclaimed Hank at once, his face flushed. “I did have too much beer but I knowed what I was a-doin’. I could have stopped the whole thing but I didn’t. Don’t you mind this hot air. I’m the oldest in the gang; I helped drive the horse away; I’m most to blame.”
“Well,” commented Mr. Trevor after a pause, “you see what you’re up against. What’ll you do to get out of this trouble?”
“Anything I can do,” answered Hank. “An’ I reckon the others’ll do the same.”
“Are you ready to be respectable?”
“You mean quit loafin’ an’ go to work?”
“Yes—both.”
“I can’t get no job. None of us can. The factories don’t want us.”
“Will you go to work if I see that you get work?”
“Yes, sir,” exclaimed Hank, “an’ I’ll cut out the pool rooms an’ beer saloons, too.”