“Why didn’t you fight him?”
“I—I didn’t want to,” faltered Rod.
“You weren’t afraid, were you?”
There was a moment of silence.
“Yes,” answered Grant in a low tone, “I was afraid.”
“I didn’t think that,” muttered Ben in disappointment.
“I can’t explain it now,” Grant hastened to say. “Sometime I will—perhaps. I won’t forget that you stood up for me. I can hear some of the fellows coming. Good night.” He turned sharply, and a moment later his figure melted into the darkness down the street.
Puzzled and wondering, Stone reached the door of the cottage and stopped there, listening involuntarily to the voices of several fellows he could see approaching. They were nearly opposite the house when he heard Chipper Cooper laugh loudly and say something about frightening the Texan into fits.
“If we can make it work it will be better than a circus,” said the voice of Fred Sage. “Are you sure you can get the old thing, Sleuth?”
“I’ve a skeleton key that will admit us,” replied Billy Piper.