"I don't s'pose we'll have a chance for anything 'cept to answer questions."
"I'll bet I can sneak in a good word now an' then, never mind how hard they try to stop me. Say, have you seen Sam Barney?"
"No; is he goin' to the court?"
"'Cordin' to the way he's been swellin' hisself out this mornin' you'd think he was countin' on runnin' the whole thing. He told some of the fellers that the trial wouldn't begin if he wasn't there, 'cause he's the only one who can send Jip up the river. Bill wanted me to go in with him for usin' the chump so rough he couldn't more'n crawl, an' that would fix things for Jip; but I was 'fraid it might make talk in the court so's you'd get the worst of it."
"It's better to let him alone, though I'm awful sorry he's so set on this detective business, 'cause if it hadn't been for that, Jip never'd been 'rested."
At this moment Bill Dean joined his friends with the information that the would-be detective had already started for the court-room, and proposed that they set out at once.
"I'm goin' to get a seat close to that duffer, an' let him know he'll get his face into trouble if he tells any more'n is called for. I wonder why he couldn't be yanked up for lyin' to Joe Carter when he borrowed that money? If he should have a dose of it in jail, I reckon he wouldn't be so hot to see Jip sent up."
Dan was uncertain whether a charge might not have been brought against the would-be detective because of what he had done in Philadelphia, but dismissed the matter without very much study, on the ground that it was now too late to render such a course of advantage to the firebug.
Then the three, followed or accompanied by nearly all their acquaintances, went toward the court-room.