Jack fought like a wildcat for a minute or two, but found himself quite helpless in the grip of the two men.
“What’ll you gain?” he demanded bitterly. “I’ll run away again! I’ll run away a thousand times! You can’t keep me. No one can.”
“You’re only cheating yourself,” Mr. Holloway told him. “Can’t you understand we’re only trying to help you? So is Mr. Wentworth and the other men at the CSI. The Court is your friend.”
“That’s a laugh!”
“If you keep on the way you’ve started, you’ll end up in a boys’ reformatory,” Sam Hatfield warned. “That, I can assure you, will be no fun. On the other hand, if you act sensibly and make an honest effort to cooperate, the CSI officials may give you another chance.”
“Another chance for what?”
“You enjoy the outdoors, Jack. Well, I happen to know that Guy Wentworth was taking you to the home of a Mrs. Jones. The place isn’t fancy and you’d have to work.”
“Oh, sure!”
“But the house is at the edge of the woods, close to the marsh. You could fish in summer time, trap in the winter and maybe earn a little money.”
“Like fun they’d let me do anything I wanted to!”