“Thank you, gentlemen,” said Tom. “It’s a compliment, and so I consider it, for you wouldn’t make the offer if you didn’t like my company, but to be frank I don’t think I should like it.”
“He’s right.”
It was the captain who spoke.
“He’s right, boys. I’m a robber myself, and am likely to be, but I won’t ask him to be. His life is before him—a bright and prosperous one it may be, and I for one won’t ask him to spoil it by taking to the road. It’s well enough for us, for there’s no other chance for us.”
“Captain,” said Alonzo, “you ain’t turning pious, are you?”
He spoke lightly, but he regarded the captain attentively as he spoke.
The captain laughed, but it was a forced laugh.
“That isn’t in my line,” he said. “I thought you knew me too well for that, Alonzo.”
“Of course I do. I thought mayhap you’d got the blues, or was getting sick of our company.”
“You have no reason to think that, because I don’t want the boy to follow our example. If you had a son of your own, Alonzo, you wouldn’t train him up to his father’s trade, would you?”