Seth raised his head, looked about him for a moment as a shadow of fear passed over his face, and, dropping Snip for an instant, plunged both hands deep in his trousers pockets.
Withdrawing them he displayed a small collection of silver and copper coins, which he turned over eagerly, his companions crowding yet more closely to assure themselves that the examination was thorough.
“It’s gone!” Seth cried shrilly. “It’s gone; but I’ll cross my throat if I knew I was passin’ it!”
Snip, hearing his young master’s cry of fear, stood on his hind feet, scratching and clawing to attract attention, and, hardly conscious of what he did, Seth took the little fellow in his arms once more.
“That settles the whole business,” Teddy Dixon cried, in the tone of one who has made an important discovery. “You shoved it on somebody who’d been lookin’ for counterfeit money, an’ now the detectives are after you!”
Seth glanced quickly and apprehensively around, as if fearing the officers of the law were already close upon him, and the seeming mystery was unravelled.
From that moment there was not even the shadow of a doubt in the minds of Seth’s acquaintances, and, believing that he had not intended to commit such a grave crime, the sympathies of all were aroused.
“You’ve got to skip mighty quick,” Tim said, after a brief pause, during which each lad had looked at his neighbor as if asking what could be done to rescue the threatened boy.
“Where’ll I go?” Seth cried tearfully. “They know what my name is, an’ there ain’t much use for me to hide.”
“You can bet I wouldn’t hang ’round here many seconds,” one of the group said, in a low tone, glancing around to make certain his words were not overheard by the minions of the law. “If we fellers keep our mouths shut, an’ you sneak off into the country somewhere, I don’t see how anybody could find you!”