"Don't worry about that. I'm not giving you this, Hank, only loaning it
to you. You can pay it back out of your first month's salary. Here you
are, and don't think for a minute that you're getting the best of all
this. We're enjoying it, in our own way, more than you ever can. See you
to-morrow, then. Good-night, Hank!"

They left the fellow standing there, quite dumb. He had tried to answer
them as they rode off, but not a sound could he utter.

"Talk to me about the queer things that crop up with us, will you!"
laughed Jerry as he kept close at Frank's heels. "Did you ever really
hear the equal of that, now?"

"Oh, it's an old story. The only decent thing about it is the fact that
of his own free will Hank was breaking away from his evil associations
and heading back home, when he met with this last trouble. I say,
Bluff!"

"Hello, Frank! What is it?" came from the rear, where the party
addressed was following in the wake of his chums.

"How about Hank? Do you know if he ever played chauffeur half-way
decent? I'd hate to risk the pater's neck with a greenhorn."

"Come to think of it, he used to run old Cragin's car for quite some
time. Had an accident, and was discharged; but some people said Hank
wasn't to blame; that it came about because the old man was too stingy
to buy the right kind of tires, and always picked up job lots."