Pretty had not been home long on his Christmas vacation before he
called at the home of the beautiful girl Enid, who had helped him win
so many tennis games, and who was the best of all the best girls he
devoted himself to, either in Kingston, Lakerim, or any other of the
towns he blessed with his smiling presence.
Enid and Pretty, being great lovers of fresh air, took many a long
walk on the country roads about Lakerim.
One day, when the air was as exhilarating and as electric as the
bubbles in a glass of ice-cream soda, they took a much longer stroll
than usual.
Then they made a sudden decision to turn homeward; for, rounding
a sharp bend in the road, they saw coming toward them three burly
tramps.
At the sight of these Three Graces both Pretty and Enid stopped short
in some little uneasiness. The tramps also stopped short, and seemed
to engage in a conversation about the two young people ahead of them
on the road.
Pretty, on account of the extreme neatness of his costume, often got
credit for being a much richer lad than he was. And Enid also was as
careful and as successful in her costumery as Pretty. So the three
tramps probably thought they had before them two children of wealth,
who would be amply provided with pocket-money. But if they had only
known how little the two really had in their possession, the adventure
you are about to hear would never have happened.
But while Pretty was flicking the dirt at the end of his toe with his
walking-stick, and wondering if he really cared to go any farther, the
tramps moved toward him quickly.
Enid, being a girl, was frightened, and did not try to conceal it, but
said:
"Oh, Pretty, let's go home at once!"
Pretty, being a boy, thought he must make a display of courage, even
if he didn't feel it; so, while his heart clattered away in his
breast, and he could hardly find breath to speak, he said with some
show of composure:
"Yes, Enid; I think we have walked far enough for to-day."
Then they whirled about and started for home at a good gait. They had
not gone far when Enid, glancing back over her shoulder, noticed that
the tramps were coming up at a still more rapid walk.
One of them, indeed, called out in a suspiciously friendly tone:
"Hey, young feller, hold up a minute and tell us what time it is, will
ye?"
Enid gasped:
"Let's run, Pretty; come on."
But Pretty answered with much dignity:
"Run? What for?" And he turned and called back to the tramp: "I don't
know what time it is."
Then the tramps insisted again that Pretty wait for them to come up.
But when he continued to walk without answering them, they began to
hurl oaths and rocks, and to run toward him. Now Pretty thought that
discretion was the better half of valor, and he seized Enid's wrist
and started off on a run, an act in which she was willing enough to
follow his lead. But he had to explain, just to preserve his dignity:
"They're three to one, you know."
But while Enid understood well enough the necessity for speed, she had
no breath to expend expressing her appreciation of Pretty's delicate
position. She was too frightened to run even as well as she knew
how, and she was going at a gait that was neither very fast nor very
economical of muscle and breath. Pretty, however, ran scientifically:
on the balls of his feet, with his head erect, his chest out, and his
lips tightly locked.
But before long he was doing all the work for two, and laboring like
a ship that drags its anchor in a storm. They came to a hill now, and
here Enid leaned her whole weight upon him. He barely managed, with
the most tremendous determination and exertion, to get her to the top
of this long incline. As they labored up he decided in his own mind,
and told her, that she must leave him and run on for help.
Just one tenth of a second his terrified mind had been occupied with
the thought that he might run on alone and leave her. The tempting
idea of self-preservation had whispered to him that if he stayed
behind, it would only result in disaster to two, while if he ran on
alone, at least one would be saved.
But this cowardly selfishness he put away after the tenth of a second
of thought, and now he was insisting, even against Enid's gasping
objection, that she must run on alone and leave him to take care of
the footpads. He did not know how he was going to do this, but he felt
that upon him devolved the duty of being the zealous rear-guard to
cover the retreat of a vanquished army.
Enid, however, was stubborn, and proposed to stay and fight with him,
even drawing out a very sharp and very dangerous hat-pin to emphasize
her courage. But Pretty, while he blessed her for her bravery and
her full-heartedness, still commanded her to run on and bring help,
promising her that he would keep out of harm's way till help could
come. With this assurance, the poor girl staggered on, gaining
strength from the necessity of speed to save her beloved Pretty.
At the brow of the hill Pretty found himself alone, and turned and
looked at the on-coming trio with defiant sternness. After a moment,
which gave him some much-needed rest and a chance to gain new breath,
he realized that one half a battle is with the warrior that is wise
enough to make the first onslaught. So, after a tremor of very natural
hesitation, the boy dashed full at the three hulkish tramps.