Not having any evidence beyond suspicion the officer did not dare arrest Tip, who continued to loaf about his customary corners and look impudently at every fellow who stared meaningly at him when passing.  Hugh himself never once doubted the guilt of Tip Slavin; though he fancied the authorities might have a hard time catching him, unless the stubborn Leon at the last, finding himself on the way to the Reform School, confessed, and implicated his companion.

He and Thad were talking about that very same thing on Thursday afternoon while on the way home from the park a little earlier than usual.

“Where do you think that sly Tip could have hidden the stuff, Hugh?” Thad asked, continuing their conversation.

“Oh! there would be plenty of places, and no one likely to ever run across it, on one condition,” replied the other.

“What might that be?” demanded Thad.

“If only Tip could himself keep away from his cache,” he was told.  “That may be his undoing, after all.  You know, when an ordinary thief has done something big, and is being looked for, the smart police always ask whether he has a wife or a sweetheart; because they know that sooner or later he is bound to communicate with such a person, and so a clue may be found to his hiding-place.  Well, Tip’s heart will be located where his treasure is.  He’ll soon get a yearning to indulge in some of the candy and cigarettes he’s got hidden away.”

“Then if Chief Wambold knew his duty,” snapped Thad vigorously, “he’d keep tabs of Tip day and night, and shadow him wherever he went.”

“That would be his best move,” agreed Hugh.

“You ought to post the Chief on that same sort of clever job, Hugh.”

“Well, I did think of that,” admitted the other boy, “but somehow I hated to have a hand in railroading Tip to the Reformatory.  It’s true he ought to be there, for he’s a terror to the whole community; but he’s got a mother, Thad, and I’d hate to see her swollen eyes, and remember that I’d had a hand in parting her from her boy.  It isn’t as if I were paid for doing such things, as Chief Wambold is; this is hardly any business of mine, you know, and I’ve concluded to keep my hands off.”

“Well, now, somehow I don’t just look at it the way you do, Hugh.  Perhaps I’m not quite so tender-hearted as you are.  It may be the best thing that ever happened to Tip if he is sent to the Reform School before he plunges any deeper into the mire of crime.  Plenty of boys have become fine men after being sent there, to be taught what it should have been the duty of their careless or incompetent parents to put into their heads.”

“Do you mean that you might take a notion to drop a hint to the Chief, Thad?”

“I’ll think it over, and decide later,” the other told him.  “Perhaps I’ll ask advice of Dominie Pettigrew, who’s a good friend of mine, and would tell me what my duty was, not only to Tip, but to the community at large, which he had so flagrantly abused time and again.”