FACING THE BULLY
There was silence in the room for a minute or two. The boys all sensed
the nearness of the tragedy that had been so narrowly averted, and each
had an inward shudder as he thought of what might have been.
But though the death angel had passed so close that they had almost
heard the rustling of his wings, here they were after all alive and
safe, and their spirits rose while their hearts swelled with
thankfulness.
“Well,” remarked Wilson, breaking the silence, “this will be a lesson to
me, as the darky said when he was about to be hanged. I don’t get in any
more boats unless they’re as dry as a bone.”
“And even then I’ll keep out of them,” said Thompson with emphasis. “Dry
land is good enough for me, at least, until I learn how to swim.”
“Wouldn’t care to have us row you back to Belden, eh?” queried Bobby
with a grin.
“Not on your life,” laughed Miner. “They’ve ’phoned over that they’ll
send an auto for us and we’ll go back in style. But we’ll never forget
till the last day of our lives what you fellows have done for us. And if
I ever hear any fellow knock Rockledge, he’ll have a fight on his hands
right away.”
Bobby laughed, as he and his two companions rose to go.
“Oh, Belden and Rockledge will have many a fight yet,” he said, “but
they’ll be good-natured fights on the baseball or football fields, and
may the best school win.”
They exchanged hearty farewells with the Belden boys, and went out of
the room and down the corridor. On the way they passed Bill Snath, who
favored them with a malicious stare in passing and uttered the word
“heroes,” in a sneering tone, as he went by. It was spoken in a low
tone, but loud enough for Fred, who was nearest him, to hear it, and his
temper took fire at once.
“What was that you said, Bill Snath?” he demanded, as he turned on his
heel.
“Nobody spoke to you, redhead,” returned Snath, snapping out the epithet
with a good deal of relish.
This was like a spark to powder, and Fred’s face became as red as his
hair.
“You take that back!” he cried, rushing up to Snath, who had stopped and
was regarding him with a tantalizing grin.
“Suppose I don’t, what are you going to do about it?” demanded the
bully, his tone the more confident because he could see behind Fred’s
back the tall figure of Mr. Leith, the head teacher, coming up from the
other end of the hall.
“I’ll show you what I’m going to do about it,” Fred replied, and was
starting to unbutton his coat, when Bobby, who had come up, restrained
him.
“Mr. Leith’s coming, Fred,” he warned him. “Cool off now and come along.
He’s close behind you now.”
There was no need of saying anything else, and Fred by a great effort
restrained himself. Mr. Leith came by and looked curiously at the
flushed face of the boy. He said nothing however, but when he had
reached the other end of the hall stood there as if in meditation.
“It’s lucky for you that he came along just then,” Fred said in a low
tone to the bully. “If you have nerve enough to come somewhere out of
sight of the school, we’ll settle this thing right now.”
“You’re three to one,” Snath replied. “If you were alone I’d make you
sing small.”
“They’ll only go along to see fair play,” answered Fred. “But if you
like, I’ll go with you alone. I’ve taken about all I’m going to take
from you. Bill Snath.”
“You’ll have to take all I care to give you,” drawled Snath, feeling
perfectly safe as long as Mr. Leith was in sight.
As at that moment Mr. Leith began to come back along the hall, there was
nothing more to be done or said and the boys separated, Snath sauntering
toward the teacher with affected nonchalance, while Fred with Bobby and
Sparrow went in the opposite direction.
“That fellow gets my goat,” growled Fred. “He never goes past without a
nasty look or word. He’s getting just as bad as Sandy Jackson, and he
needs to be taken down.”
“He’s aching for a thrashing,” agreed Bobby, “and that’s twice to-day
he’s come near getting it. But if I were you, Fred, I’d take as little
notice of him as I could. If you hadn’t paid any attention to what he
said about heroes, he’d have thought we didn’t hear him, and that would
have made him sore. As it is, he’s tickled to death because he thinks he
put one over on us.”
“But he called me redhead!” exclaimed Fred, “and no one can do that in
earnest without a fight.”
“That of course is different,” admitted Bobby. “I wouldn’t let any one
call me names and get away with it. But as far as we can, the best thing
is to let him alone. Some time or other he’ll get to the end of his
rope, just as his pal did and get out of Rockledge School.”
“I guess Bobby’s about right,” remarked Sparrow. “I suppose it’s always
better to go round a skunk than take a kick at him. But I don’t blame
Fred for feeling sore. I feel the same way.”
The chums went out on the steps of the school, where they found a group
of their friends waiting for them.
“How are the fellows getting along who were nearly drowned?” asked
Skeets.
“Fine and dandy,” replied Fred, who by this time had regained his usual
good nature. “Not one of them is going to kick the bucket. And what do
you think, fellows? They’re all Belden boys.”
“Belden boys!” echoed Shiner. “Our chief rivals! That’s what you call
heaping coals of fire on their head.”
“I guess coals of fire would have felt comfortable when they were out in
the lake,” laughed Mouser. “But I’m mighty glad they’re getting along
all right. If any of them had died, I’d expect to hear their ghosts
walking about the halls of the building to-night.”
“Listen, to him talk,” said Howell Purdy scornfully. “You can’t hear
ghosts walk. They just float around as soft as anything.”
“That’s right,” came in a chorus from the boys, who had involuntarily
gathered a little closer together at the talk of ghosts.
“No, he isn’t right,” chirped up Billy. “Mouser had it straight when he
talked about hearing ghosts walking.”
“There you are,” said Mouser, glad of the reinforcement.
“It’s easy enough to say that,” put in Howell, “but how are you going to
prove it? All the books I ever read say that they don’t make any noise.
You can’t bear them coming. So what do you make of that?” he added
turning triumphantly toward Billy.
The latter however seemed not to be a bit disturbed.
“All the same I’m right,” he asserted with quiet confidence.
“How can you prove it?” demanded Howell defiantly.
“That’s the talk” came from the others. “Prove it, Billy. Put up or shut
up.”
“All right,” replied Billy, accepting the challenge. “I know that ghosts
walk because I’ve heard them do it!”