"Suppose we wait until Father Boone comes back," added Tommy. "He'll tell us exactly what's the matter."
After it had got to be late, Frank observed, "I'll bet he's waiting for Bill to regain consciousness, and there's no telling when he'll be back. Let's wait a quarter of an hour more, and then if he's not here, we'd better go."
They all assented to this and when the time was up, they started to leave. Frank, however, signalled to Dick and Ned and Tommy, and they loitered about until the rest had gone.
"Fellows," began Frank, "I had a letter all written to Father Boone about the scrape we're in, but I tore it up, I'm surer than ever that something worse has happened than that fight. I don't even believe that Father Boone knows who was in it. But that scrap was the basis of something else, something really serious. Bill Daly knows what it was, believe me. He came here tonight to straighten things out. Did you see how he came in, and how he stood the 'gaff'? Would he have taken all that from kids like you unless he had something big troubling him? And that's not all. He got me aside and began to talk confidentially, hinting at something dark, you know. He was just getting ready to accuse himself when the fire engine came along, and you know the rest."
The three others nodded in agreement with Frank and awaited further light on the matter.
"That's all," he continued, "except that I never saw such an exalted look on any boy's face as when he leaped for that ladder. It just seemed to say 'I know you've got me down bad, boys, but here goes to show you that there is some good left in Bill Daly.'"
In point of fact, Bill had never given the boys a thought when he made his plunge for the ladder. But the look of exaltation, as Frank called it, was there nevertheless. Its source was higher than Frank gave him credit for.
"Now I maintain," asserted Frank, "that the fellow was glad of the chance to set himself right with the Club. And from what he hinted at, I'm certain, too, that he did something to 'queer' us with Father Boone, something pretty bad, too, for I never before knew Father Boone to take such measures as he has in this affair."
"You're a regular Sherlock Holmes, old man," observed Dick.
"Sherlock Holmes or not," said Frank, "you'll find out before this thing is settled that I'm right. A man like Father Boone does not change his character over night. Something has happened to make him take this attitude, and I'd give my hat to know what it is."