We was all told it together."
The big man did not seem to like this admission and moved uneasily,
first on one foot and then on the other.
"Yes, yes, but who was the person who told you?" asked the doctor
a little impatiently. "We want to get at the first person who gave
this information. Was it one of yourselves or a stranger? Do you
actually know the person who told you this?"
"No, I don't," growled Jenkins, "but I can tell you this, and that
is that he was a big young feller and had a uniform under his coat
which come open while he was talkin', so's I could see it plain;
an' if it wasn't the same identical uniform them boys wear, I'll
eat my hat!"
"Do you see him now?" asked the doctor.
Jenkins looked around and Bill Calthorpe and the other squatters
did the same, the first speaker's admission not being denied by
any of them.
"No, he ain't here now," said Jenkins.
"Was he here at all to-day?" suddenly asked Billy Manners in a tone
that brought attention upon him in an instant.
"Yes, he was!" said Jenkins doggedly, and all the boys gave a gasp.
CHAPTER XXI
WHAT APPEARED ON BILLY'S PLATES
The statement of Jim Jenkins that a boy wearing the uniform of the
Hilltop boys had told him and others that the building of the branch
line would injure them had already caused considerable excitement
among the young students, and Jim's second statement to the effect
that the boy had been there that very day only served to increase it.
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