mouths shut, an' you sneak off into the country somewhere, I don't see
how anybody could find you!"

"But where'd I go?" Seth asked, his tears checked by the great fear
which came with the supposed knowledge of what he had done.

"Anywhere. Here's Snip all ready to take a journey for his health, an'
in ten minutes you'll be out of the city; but it ain't safe to hang
'round thinkin' of it very long, for the detectives will be runnin'
their legs off tryin' to earn the money that's promised by the
advertisement."

Seth made no reply, and his most intimate friends understood that if
he was to be saved from prison the time had arrived when they must act
without waiting for his decision.

They held a hurried consultation, while Seth stood caressing Snip,
without being really conscious of what he did, and then Teddy and Tim
ranged themselves either side of the culprit who had unwittingly
brought himself under the ban of the law.

Seizing him by the arms they forced the lad forward in the direction
of Broadway, Tim saying hoarsely to those who gave token of their
intention to follow:

"You fellers must keep away, else the cops will know we're up to
somethin' crooked. Wait here, an' me an' Teddy'll come back as soon as
we've taken care of Seth."

This injunction was not obeyed without considerable grumbling on the
part of the more curious, and but for the efforts of two or three of
the wiser heads, the fugitive and his accomplices would have aroused
the suspicions of the dullest policeman in the city.

"You'll get yourselves into a heap of trouble if anybody knows you
helped me to run away," Seth said, in a tone of faint remonstrance.

"It can't be helped," Teddy replied firmly, urging the hunted boy to a
faster pace. "We ain't goin' to stand by an' see you lugged off to
jail while there's a show of our doin' anything. Keep your eye on Snip
so's he won't bark, an' we'll look after the rest of the business."

Even if Seth had been averse to running away from the possible danger
which threatened, he would have been forced to continue the flight so
lately begun, because of the energy displayed by his friends.

Tim and Teddy literally dragged him along, crossing the street at one
point to avoid a policeman, and again dodging into a friendly doorway
when the guardians of the peace came upon them suddenly.

Had any one observed particularly the movements of these three lads,
the gravest suspicions must have been awakened