“We’ll have to return ’em,” Dan agreed uneasily. “I hate to do it though. This will give him another chance to accuse us.”
No one wanted to be assigned the job of returning the recovered property to Mr. Treuhaft. Because the other Cubs were so reluctant, Dan and Brad volunteered.
Both freezers were loaded into Dan’s little red wagon, and made a tight fit. As the two boys hauled the containers down the street, they imagined that everyone was staring at them.
“I think half the town heard that untrue story about us taking these freezers,” Dan said uncomfortably. “Now folks will think the worst, seeing us haul them.”
“We’ve done nothing dishonorable, Dan.”
“I know that, Brad. All the same, I feel sort of funny. Everyone stares so.”
“We could go down this alley,” Brad suggested, halting the wagon at the entranceway.
“Let’s,” agreed Dan.
They turned into the narrow alley, pulling the creaking wagon down the uneven bricks, past high fences and garbage cans.
Unaccountably, Brad halted so suddenly that the freezers nearly tumbled off the wagon.