"I didn't do that," cried Broom. "So help me, I didn't!"
"I never said you did, did I?" asked Haskin, with a smile that wasn't pleasant to see. "Better wait until you're accused of a crime next time before you're so ready to deny it. The cap seemed to fit you when I threw it."
Broom, snarling, turned on Jack then.
"It's you, is it, you young whelp?" he gritted. "I might have guessed it. It's a pity I didn't smash your brains out the other day when I had you in my power. You're the one that's been in the way every time we've turned a trick for the last two weeks. But we'll get you yet—be sure of that!"
"Never mind him, Jack," said Pete. "He talks mighty big, but he can't do anything to you. Every time they've tried it, they've got into pretty serious trouble. I guess they'll learn to let you alone before long. If they don't, they'll all be in jail anyhow, won't they, Captain Haskin?"
"It looks that way, my boy," said the detective. "Take these fellows off, men. Turn them over to the police at headquarters. Tell them that Mr. Simms and the railroad will both make a complaint. The federal marshal will be after them, too, for trying to transport dynamite on a railroad car. That's a very serious offense nowadays, under the Interstate Commerce Law."
CHAPTER XVI
OFF ON A LONG HIKE
Jack and Pete, with a week's vacation on their hands, were puzzled as to what they should do. But Dick Crawford, anxious to get Jack away from the city for a time, until things should blow over, suggested a plan.