That closed the incident so far as Captain McCormack was concerned. But Hal’s mother was not so easily pacified. She continued alternately to pity and to blame her boy, and to make dire predictions of what was likely to happen to him when he should come in contact with Mr. Barriscale. And as for Hal’s young sisters, they would not be appeased until they had drawn from him a full recital of the escapade of Hallowe’en. But he did not permit either his mother’s lamentations or the volubility of his sisters to impede the carrying out of his programme. As it was Saturday morning and there was no school he was able to set about at once the performance of his most unwelcome task. He resurrected a boy’s express wagon that he had used with delight a few years back, loaded the fragments of broken statuary carefully into it, covered them discreetly with a piece of burlap, and started out on his journey to the Barriscale mansion. Two blocks from home he ran unexpectedly into Slicker, who stood for a moment gazing at him and his outfit in wild-eyed astonishment. “What you got there?” asked Slicker. “Stolen goods,” replied Hal sententiously. “What you mean stolen goods? It ain’t the stone cupid, is it?” “Yes.” “Where you takin’ him?” “Back home.” “Perry make you take it back?” “No.” “Who did then?” “My father.” “How’d he come to know about it? Who peached?” Hal decided to throw off his reserve and explain. “Well, you see, after we left the thing on Perry’s porch some other crowd must have come along and picked it up and brought it to our house. That wouldn’t have been so bad, but those fellows, whoever they were, broke it.” “Gee whiz! Is it bust bad?” “Yes. Broke in two. Ruined.” “That’s a crime! Let’s see!” Slicker lifted the burlap carefully and inspected the broken image. “It’s done for,” he said as he replaced the covering. “What you takin’ it back for? It ain’t no good now.” “My father thought I’d better.” “What you goin’ to do about it?” “I’ve got to stand the damage.” “Why, you didn’t break it.” “I know. But I helped carry it off; and if it hadn’t been carried off it wouldn’t have been broken.” “I guess that’s right, too. But you didn’t snitch it alone. What about the rest of us?” “I didn’t give any of you away. I shouldered the whole job.” Slicker stood for a moment in deep contemplation. Finally he said: “That’s mighty decent, Hal; and you’re a regular brick. But it don’t go down with me. We’ll cut the rest of the fellows out and you and me’ll share the consekences. We’ll go fifty-fifty on it.” “No; you don’t have to do that, Slicker.” “I know I don’t; but I’m goin’ to. It’s settled. Come on!” He took hold of one side of the cross-piece of the handle of the wagon and motioned to his companion to take hold of the other side. Hal knew that when Slicker had made up his mind to do a thing there was no turning him. So he acquiesced in the plan. And together the two boys dragged their unlovely load toward its destination.