“I reckon he is, ’less they saw fit to let him go free; and from what I seen of ’em, that ain’t their game.”
“How far do you suppose that place was away from here?” came from careful George.
Joe sat silent for a minute. He seemed to be trying to figure what manner of slow progress he may have made since effecting his freedom.
“I thought I’d gone nigh twenty miles, judgin’ by the way I felt,” he finally said; “but come to figger it out I reckon it mightn’t abeen more’n five.”
“Toward the west, you mean; for you came from that direction?” Jack continued.
“Yes, that’s so, over that way,” pointing as he spoke.
Jack turned to his chums.
“It’s up to us, boys,” he said soberly. “Clarence has never been one of us; but he belongs to our school. We’d never forgive ourselves if we went back to the Soo tomorrow, and left him in the hands of these scoundrels. Do you agree with me?”
“That’s right, Jack!” sang out George.
“Sure we would be cold-blooded to think of it,” Josh declared.