Griff sat in silence for a moment. Bob walked over to the open safe, saw where the package belonged, and pushed it into place, then slammed the safe door, turned the knob of the combination to lock it and swung back to Griff.
“There!” he exclaimed. “That shows we’re helping you.”
“I—I—what do you mean?” Griff stared.
“I mean this!” Bob came and stood in front of him. “I mean that the money is back in the safe. If you can show any reason besides temptation or somebody forcing you to do—this!—we’ll all promise to say nothing more about the things we saw you do.”
Griff shook his head.
“That wouldn’t do any good,” he said despondently. “I’ve got to have that money. You think it’s—” he could not bring out the word, but he saw that the trio recognized what he meant. “It isn’t—because Lang is flying, right now, to his uncle, to get him to come back and give me money—a loan—to replace this.”
The chums exchanged surprised, wondering glances.
“Lang! Going to Father for money for you?”
“Yes,” Griff answered Al. “It’s—it’s all mixed up and—awful!—but you say you’d help instead of telling on me, if I could show I wasn’t as bad as you think.”
Bob thought he saw a genuine honesty in the clear look Griff gave him. His sympathy was really quick and he wanted to be fair.