“Our friend,” repeated Cap calmly. “So you’ll please pass him up, as a matter of class courtesy.” It was an appeal that could not well be denied. “Listen to Professor Clatter’s friend!” cried several of Bondy’s cronies. “Proud to acknowledge it,” put in Bill in drawling tones, “and so would you, if you knew the story.” Professor Clatter was still staring at the three lads on the steps of his wagon. “The Smith boys! The Smith boys!” he murmured. “I’d never have believed it. Whoa, Pactolus! We have unexpected allies,” and he made his way through the crowd of wondering students to where our three heroes waited for him on the wagon steps. CHAPTER XII PROFESSOR CLATTER’S PLAN Standing there, facing their fellow students who were gathered in a mocking crowd about the medicine wagon, Cap, Bill and Pete hardly knew how to begin, nor what to talk about after they had started. “Do you mean to say you’re going to stick up for—for _this_ person?” demanded Bondy, and he put all the scorn of which he was capable into the words. “We certainly do,” declared Cap firmly. “If you’ll let us explain, we’ll—” “Young gentlemen, permit me,” broke in the voice of Professor Clatter. “I believe I can—” “No more of your patent medicine jargon!” interrupted some of Guilder’s cronies. “We’ve had enough.” “I wasn’t going to speak of my wares,” said the vendor simply. “I hope you will give me credit for knowing how to deal with gentlemen—when I see them.” There was a laugh at this, and the Professor knew he had at least some of his audience with him. “I was going to ask my friends, the Smith boys, to allow me to make the explanation,” Mr. Clatter went on. “I believe I can give all the facts necessary.” He looked at Cap, who nodded an assent. Then, mounting the steps beside the lads, the vendor of the Peerless Permanent Pain Preventative and the various other nostrums, told simply, but effectively, how, one morning, he had met our three heroes as they were fleeing from home, under the mistaken notion that they were to be tarred and feathered. Mr. Clatter related how he had provided them with breakfast from his wagon, how they had traveled about with him, selling his goods, taking part in a sort of minstrel show, all as related in the first volume of this series. “And when I was arrested for innocently practicing palmistry, in an effort to locate a man who had robbed their father, these boys kept on with the business alone, and made money enough to pay my fine,” said the professor. “I can never thank them enough for what they did, and now they have more than ever put me in their debt by standing up in this friendly fashion for me when—well, I know you young gentlemen love fun, but this wagon and stock is all I have in the world,” he concluded simply, and there was a break in his voice. For a moment there was silence, and then the story, which the professor told much more dramatically than either of our heroes could have presented it, had its effect.