“But think how long that’ll take,” joked Billy. “I’ve seen these fellows eat before.”
“Mel,” said Fred, as he pitched in like a hungry wolf, ably seconded by Teddy, “I always thought you were a good friend of mine, but now I know it. You’ve saved my life.”
They ate till they could eat no more. Then, to the eager crowd around them, the Rushton boys went over all the events of that memorable day. Their chums listened breathlessly as they told of the exciting pursuit of the tramps and their rounding up in the road house. And when they had finished, there was a tumult of applause and congratulation.
“Great stuff, old scouts!” was the way Melvin summed up the general feeling. “You’ve both done yourselves proud this day.”
“Of course I’m glad you got back those things for your uncle,” said Slim, “but the thing that tickles me to death is the way you polished off Andy Shanks. I haven’t enjoyed anything so much since I’ve been at Rally Hall. Whatever happens now, I feel that I haven’t lived in vain.”
“I guess we all feel the same way,” acquiesced Billy. “Andy has had that coming to him for a long time. Mel trimmed him once, but that was a year ago, and he’s been aching for another licking ever since.”
“Well, he got it all right,” declared Lester, “and it was a most artistic job.”
“What gets me is how he ever had the nerve to come back here, after he’d been bundled out in disgrace,” wondered Tom.
“Oh, I don’t know,” grinned Slim. “You know they say every criminal is drawn back to the scene of his crimes.”
“If he has that feeling again, I don’t think he will yield to it,” laughed Lester. “I guess we’ve seen the last of Andy Shanks.”