“Now this is what I call a real interesting conversation,” said Bates.
“What did you do?” went on the Colonel, without heeding these interruptions. “You induced my ward to join a gang of rascally, irresponsible boys, who are idling away their time in a miserable mud-scow. A fine thing for a man of your age to be with such a crowd.”
“Simply awful,” said Bates.
“You are mistaken, Colonel Ellison,” said Redfern, and there was a certain ring in the ex-tutor’s voice which the Colonel had never heard in it before.
“Do you have the effrontery to deny it?”
“I’ll bet he will,” came from Bates. “He’s tipping a wink to those chaps in back.”
Jack Lyons stepped forward.
“I know all about this affair,” he remarked, calmly. “Redfern had nothing to do with it. He tried to make George go back home, and——”
“I’ve heard that voice before,” exclaimed the angry Colonel. “Boy, where have I seen you?”
The speaker gazed searchingly at Jack Lyons, whose face was clearly revealed by the moonlight, and almost instantly added, “Why, you’re the very boy who was in my house, and—didn’t I see you on the road just a few minutes ago?”