"When was this?"
"Last night."
"Humph! Tell me all about it."
Nelson did as requested. Before he had finished Darnley senior gave a long yawn.
"Hang that boy!" he observed. "He's going from bad to worse. He will end up on the gallows if he aint careful."
To console himself he got out a black bottle and took a deep drink. Evidently he was not deeply impressed.
"Have you any idea where Billy is now?" asked our hero.
"No. He'll keep shady, I suppose. I can't help you. Go to the police. If he gets hung some day it will be his own fault."
The man turned his back on Nelson as if to end the interview. In a minute more our hero was in the street again.
"A fine father for any boy to have," was his thought. "I reckon one is about as bad as the other, and perhaps both will end up in the electric chair."