In a way, business in Oakdale was suspended, or, perhaps it should be said that it had not really begun for the day. On the street corners groups of men and boys discussed the recent exciting events and speculated over the probability of quick capture of the robber or robbers who still remained at large; for it was believed that at least three men had been concerned in the effort to plunder the bank. Somehow, it had leaked out that a part of the bank funds were missing, and of course this created an additional volume of gossip and speculation.

Fred, searching for Sleuth Piper, was hailed by various schoolboy friends, but, further than to make inquiries regarding Sleuth, he had no time for them. At last he found the boy he sought, who was on his way to the office of the village lawyers.

Sleuth turned and waited as Fred called his name and came hurrying up.

“I want to see you, Piper,” said Sage. “I want a little private talk with you.”

“I’m pretty busy,” returned Sleuth; “but I presume I can spare you a little of my valuable time. Of course I can imagine what you’re after, but I’m afraid it won’t be any use, old fellow. I’m sorry for you, but——”

“Oh, yes, you are—not,” flung back Fred scornfully. “After what you’ve done——”

“Now wait; stop right there,” interrupted Sleuth. “I’ve simply done my duty, although in your position you may not regard it as such. If my brother was a bank robber and an escaped convict, perhaps I’d feel hard toward anyone who tried to send him back to prison, but at the same time I’m sure my sense of justice——”

“Bosh! That sort of tommyrot gives me a cramp. Besides, my brother is an innocent man.”

Sleuth lifted his eyebrows and shrugged incredulously.

“He’s innocent, I tell you!” panted Fred fiercely.

“It looks that way, don’t it!” said the young amateur detective, unable in spite of his professed sympathy for Sage, to repress a slight sneer.

“No, it doesn’t look that way,” admitted the other boy. “I own up that it must seem that he’s surely guilty. Here come some people, Piper. They’ll stand around and listen. We can’t talk here. Won’t you come with me some place where we’ll be by ourselves, with no rubbernecks around?”

Sleuth hesitated a moment. “I can see the lawyers later,” he muttered presently. “As long as it’s you, Fred, and you’re so badly broken up, I’ll do what you want, though again I must say I’m sure it’s useless.”

When Sile Crane and Chub Tuttle attempted to follow them as they turned down the street Fred whirled and almost snarled:

“What do you fellows want? Can’t you let us have a little private talk?”

“Lordy!” gasped Tuttle. “Don’t snap anybody’s head off. Haven’t you had breakfast? Here, take some peanuts.”

Disdaining this placating offer, Fred strode away at Sleuth’s side. Reaching the bridge, they paused.

“I hope you’re not going to appeal to me from the standpoint of friendship,” said Piper. “You must realize that it’s too late now, old man. Your brother is captured, and I can do nothing. I expect to receive the reward offered for his apprehension.”

“The offer was withdrawn long ago, when it was supposed that he had been drowned in the Hudson.”

“Oh, I don’t mean that; I mean the reward offered for the party known as James Wilson, or Gentleman Jim.”

“Piper, you’re on the wrong track. My brother is not Gentleman Jim.”

Again Sleuth shrugged. Slipping his hand into his pocket, he drew forth the printed description of James Wilson which he had clipped from the newspaper.

“This fits him to a tee,” he said. “He must be the man.”

“I admit that, in a way, the description of Wilson seems to fit my brother, but still, I maintain that they are two different men, Piper. You’ll find it out, too, if this Wilson was concerned in the attempt on the bank last night and he does not escape the men who are hunting for him. My brother had no hand in that business.”

“How do you know that?”

“How do I know? Why, he—he came here alone; came to get a glimpse of the mother whose heart was so nearly broken over his terrible misfortune. Oh, Sleuth, you can’t realize what you’ve done! You pried into our secret. There are few families so fortunate that they have no secret they wish to keep hidden from the general public.”

“I won’t argue about that,” said Piper, returning the newspaper clipping to his pocket, “for it can have no bearing on the situation. You say your brother was not concerned in the attempt to rob the Oakdale bank. I ask, how do you know? He was here, wasn’t he? He was hidden in your stable. Of course he told you that he came here to see your mother. That’s a plausible story. But how do you know he didn’t come here to take a hand in that bank cracking? While you were asleep in your bed last night, he was helping his pals cut their way into the bank and blow open the vault.”

“No—I tell you no!” contradicted Fred, his hands working convulsively, as if he longed to choke the other boy. “Clarence never did a dishonorable or criminal thing in his life. After his escape from prison he fled to the West, and, while this man called Gentleman Jim has been making himself notorious as a crook, Clarence has been in Alaska and Australia. He has but lately returned to this part of the country.”

“How do you know?” persisted Sleuth, unshaken in his position. “Of course that’s the story he told you. Naturally, he’d lie to you.”

Fred’s chest rose and fell; his teeth were set and his nostrils dilated; his appearance was so ominous that Piper shrank away.

“’Twon’t do you any good to jump on me,” spluttered Sleuth. “If your brother wasn’t one of that gang, how did it happen that the wound of the other chap who was captured was bound up in your stable? How did it happen that you led him into the woods, in order that he might have a chance to get away?”

“I’ll tell you,” answered Fred, after exhaling a long breath that seemed to relieve in a degree the tension of his nerves. “My brother knew that man in prison. The man’s name is Riley. When Riley sought shelter in our stable my brother saw him sitting there on a box and trying weakly to staunch the flow of blood. Clarence came out and gave a hand to bind up Riley’s wound. About that time some men searching for the robbers passed our house, and we learned what had happened. I went into the stable and came upon Clarence and Riley. Of course it was necessary for them to tell me how matters stood. In a moment I realized the danger to my brother—the terrible danger of having Riley traced there and captured on the premises. I knew what I was doing when I guided the man into the woods, but I did so for my brother’s sake.”

Sleuth shook his head. “Too bad—too bad you had to do that, for it makes you sort of an accomplice. However, Sage, even though you thought me your bitter enemy and I knew just what you now own that you did, I haven’t breathed a word that would bring suspicion of this matter upon you. I’ve pledged Hooker to keep still. He’s your friend, and that fact ought to help keep his mouth buttoned up.”

“As long as you’ve done this much, why won’t you do something more? It’s doubtful if the people here know anything of my brother’s history, and so, if it’s shown that he was not connected with last night’s affair, he may be released. They are still searching for the robbers who have not yet been taken. Now if those men are captured and one of them proves to be Gentleman Jim, you’ll see what a blunder you’ve made. It can do you no good to expose my brother and send him back to Sing Sing. Before telling what you know about him, won’t you wait to see if one of these other burglars may not be Gentleman Jim? If you refuse to do that, I’ll know that your behavior toward me was prompted by pure animosity, and nothing else.”

“You’re hanging on to a false hope, Sage,” said Sleuth, after a moment or two of consideration; “but, seeing it’s you, I’ll agree to keep mum for a while. That won’t hurt me, for your brother is safe in custody and can’t get away. When the robbers are captured and you’re satisfied that your brother is the only one of the bunch who could possibly be Gentleman Jim, I shall tell the authorities everything. You can’t ask me to do otherwise under those circumstances.”

“You’ve agreed to do all I expected of you—and more,” acknowledged Fred in relief. “I—I thank you, Piper.”

“Don’t,” said Sleuth. “Some day you’ll understand that there was not an atom of animosity or spite in my heart. Now, if you don’t mind, I’ll go see those lawyers. And don’t worry, I won’t blow until I’ve seen you again.”

A short time later Fred Sage presented himself at the lockup, where he tried to get a word with Clarence, but admission was denied him. Ere returning home, more from habit than otherwise, he called for mail at the post-office and was given a letter addressed to his father. Not until he had nearly reached his home did he observe that the envelope bore the postmark of Rutledge, New York, and that the names of “Jorlemon & Gates, Attorneys-at-Law,” were printed upon it.

Jorlemon and Gates were the lawyers who had defended Clarence Sage at his trial.