“Does he belong here?” he asked.
Clay hesitated. The stranger looked so cold and hungry, and his eyes were appealing, and his manner asked for sympathy! He was sorely tempted to make a statement in his behalf which was not true, and which he knew would be regretted as long as he lived.
To deny the story told by the shivering lad would certainly cause his arrest as a diamond thief. The policeman might go away with his prisoner without searching the cabin if he was told that the lad had never set foot there before. In that case the gems would not be discovered in the possession of the occupants of the place.
It was certainly in the interest of the boys that the policeman should leave without searching the cabin, and yet the stranger stood so in need of protection that Clay could not for an instant decide what to do. Then he caught the eyes of his chums, fixed anxiously upon himself, and moved toward the stove where the diamonds reposed in the coffee-pot, surely an odd receptacle for so valuable a parcel.
“I’m going to tell you the truth, officer,” he said, “though it may get me into trouble. I——”
The stranger stepped forward, interrupting his progress to the place where the stones were secreted.
“Wait,” the boy said, “I’m not going to get you all into trouble. Officer,” he continued, turning to the wondering policeman, “I told you a lie just now. I don’t belong here with these boys. I’ve never been in this cabin before—before to-night. I’ve often watched the boat when it was lighted up on cold nights, and when there was a smell of cooking coming from the windows, as there was to-night, but I don’t belong here. If you’ll take me away now, I’ll be glad, because I don’t want to get these boys into any scrape.”
“So you have loitered about here nights, have you?” demanded Case, his sympathy for the lad turning to suspicion. “What were you doing out there by the warehouse a short time ago? Were you in here after our chum went away. Are you the thief who stole our money?”
Clay tried to check the boy, but his words poured out in a torrent of suspicion and reproach until the officer interrupted him.
“So ho!” he cried, “there’s been another robbery in your vicinity to-night, has there? You’ve kept yourself busy, eh? How much did you lose, lad?” he continued, turning to Clay.