wd. Tommy looked rather undecided. He knew well enough
that the boys were doing wrong, but he feared they would laugh at
him unless he took part too; but Master Sunshine could not stand
the sight.

"Come, Dick, make the boys stop teasing Billy," cried he, going up
to the big boy who was leading in the rude sport. "He has never
done you any harm."

Dick looked angrily around. "Listen to bow-legged Norton," he
answered rudely.

"Run along," jeered another; "you better go and play with the a-b-c
boys at the schoolhouse."

Master Sunshine could not bear to be teased; but neither had he
the heart to turn away when Billy's eyes were following him so
piteously. His mind was quite made up now, and his temper was
rising fast.

"If you can do without me, you can do without Billy too," he said
firmly, making his way through the group. "You can call me any
names you like, and throw mud if you want to; but I'm not going to
leave Billy till he can go safely home."

The boys looked at one another in amazement. Here was Fred Norton
dictating to them what they should and should not do,--a little
chap who had scarcely been a year at school.

For a moment they were too surprised to make any objection; and
Master Sunshine had actually elbowed his way through the crowd,
and, with Billy by the hand, was making his way back towards home
before they realized what was happening.

Then a rude lad threw a great handful of mud that spattered on
Master Sunshine's back, and another cried, "Look at his bow-legs."

Master Sunshine looked back at his tormentors, for the taunt was
harder to bear than the mud itself. The boys were quick to see
this, and a half dozen of them at once joined in the teasing
chorus: "Did you ever see such legs? Before I'd have crooked legs
like that?"

And then his first tormentor would set in with the taunt of "Bow-legged
Norton! bow-legged Norton!"

But somehow the fun was quite gone out of it now. A number of the
better-minded boys had left the group, and were walking quietly
along. Tommy was talking vigorously to them.

"Fred Norton is all right," he exclaimed; "he's as manly and
honest as he can be. He can't bear to see anything ill-treated,
not even a dog; and it is just like him to take Billy's part."

"He made me feel small somehow," said Ralph, the largest boy of
all. "I suppose I could have stopped the row if I'd thought, but I
was afraid the fellows would be angry at me for spoiling their
sport.