So he knew I was keeping his hat to prove who was in the
crowd that tackled us unawares."

"He just knew that if his hat were ever shown, he'd be in the soup,"
observed Colon, "so he thought it worth while to take all kinds of
chances in the hope of copping it again. But let me tell you, the boy
who'd open a window, and creep into a neighbor's house night times, is
pretty close to the line. He's on the road to being a regular
professional thief when he grows up, because it shows he likes that sort
of thing."

"You know they say, 'as the twig's inclined, the tree is bent,'" Bristles
told them, ponderously, "and we all can guess what'll become of Buck
Lemington some day. He'll either make a striking figure in finance, or
else head some big swindle that'll send him up for twenty years."

"But with the evidence gone," Colon remarked, "of course that ends the
plan to show Cooney up at school?"

"Yes, and that was what he took such big chances for," Fred admitted.
"We might tell the whole story, but without any positive evidence there
would always seem to be a weak link in it. Some folks might even say we
were prejudiced. They'd rather believe the attack came from one of the
other towns. People always like to believe bad things about rival places
rather than the home town. So we'd better shut down on that hat part of
the story, and keep it quiet."

"Course it doesn't matter if we let it be known we were set upon, only we
mustn't say we suspect any particular boys," Colon went on to remark,
with a little confusion that told Fred he must have already been telling
something about the encounter, though not mentioning names.

"Call that settled, then," Bristles added, "but it's too bad, when you
had the case framed up against Cooney for fair and keeps. He'd have
found himself the most unpopular fellow in Riverport, that's, right."

"The main thing with me," Fred explained, "was the hope that when
everybody got to pointing the finger of scorn at Cooney, he'd feel so
mean and small that, not wanting to stand for all the abuse alone, he'd
up and confess that it was Buck who had started the racket. But as our
plans have missed fire, we'll have to forget all about it. We've got our
hands full as it is with this race, and getting ready to do our level
best to win."

"I think I see Sid coming," Colon told them just then, and as he had an
advantage over the rest by reason of his long neck, nobody disputed his
word.

"