“I am afraid I’ll have to,” said Tom quietly, as he turned aside.   “But
if you fellows think------”

“Say, if you intimate such a thing as that we believe you guilty I’ll punch your face!” cried Jack, with a laugh, in which there was no mirth.  “Won’t we, Bert?”

“We sure will!  Now come on to Latin class;” and with their arms still about their chum, showing their loyalty to him in his time of trouble, the boys passed on across the campus, followed by many eyes.

CHAPTER XVI

TOM SEEKS CLEWS

“Well, Tom, what’s the answer; anyhow?”

“Don’t talk about it if you don’t want to.”

Thus Jack and Bert spoke as they entered their room with their chum shortly before luncheon on the day of the sensational disclosures in chapel.

Tom looked at his two friends, and then sank down rather wearily in a chair.

“I don’t mind talking about it,” he said, with an attempt at a smile.  “In fact I was going to propose it myself.  I’ve got some hard work ahead of me.”

“What kind?” asked Jack quickly.  “Let us help you.”

“Sure,” chimed in Bert.  “Count on us, Tom.  What are you going to do?”

“Clear my name, that’s what I going to do.  And I’ve got a hard job ahead of me.”

“Not with us to help you!” exclaimed Jack.

“That’s the worst of it,” spoke Tom ruefully.  “You fellows can’t help me.”

“Why not, I’d like to know,” came from Bert quickly.

“Well, there are certain reasons.  Look here, fellows, I’d tell you in a minute, if I could, but I can’t.  I’m bound to silence in a way, and I can’t speak as I’d like to.”

“But surely it oughtn’t to be so hard for you to clear your name,” insisted Jack.  “All you’ve got to do is to prove that you weren’t near the farm at the time the horses were poisoned, nor were you when the stacks caught fire.  That ought to be easy.”

“And surely you can show that if it wasn’t you wearing that sweater, at the time the farmer saw you, it was someone else,” went on Bert.  “It was someone else; wasn’t it, Tom?”

“Say, don’t ask me any more questions,” begged Tom.  “I can’t answer ’em all, and I don’t want to get tangled up.  All I can say is that I didn’t have the first thing to do with those crimes, and I’m going to work to prove that I didn’t.  It’s harder than it seems, but I’ll do it.”

“That’s right!” exclaimed Jack.  “You’ve got pluck enough Tom, old man.”

“And I may need some luck, too,” added our hero.  “If I have that I think I’ll be all right.”

“Not a bad combination,” commented Bert.  “Pluck and luck.  With ’em both you can do a heap.”

“That’s right,” admitted Tom.  “And now I’m going to do some boning, and get ahead with my work so I’ll have a little time to hunt for clews.”

“Clews?” murmured Jack.