see the girls, for the demands of football were fearfully
exacting.

Laura, being almost at the threshold of seventeen years, had grown
tall and womanly. Bert Dodge began to notice what a very pretty
girl the doctor's daughter was becoming. So, one afternoon while
the football squad was practicing hard over on the athletic field,
Bert encountered Laura and Belle as they strolled down the Main
Street.

Lifting his hat, Dodge greeted the girls, and stood chatting with
them for a few moments. To this neither of the girls could object,
for Bert's manners, with the other sex, were always irreproachable.

But, presently, Laura saw her chance. She did not want to be
rude, but Bert's face had just taken on a half-sneering look at
a chance mention of Dick's name.

"You aren't playing football this year, Bert?" Laura asked innocently.

Bert quickly flushed.

"No," he admitted.

"Of course everyone can't make the eleven," Belle added, with
mild malice.

"I---I don't believe I'd care to," Dodge went on. "I---you see---I
don't care about all the fellows in the squad."

"I don't suppose every boy who is playing on the squad is a chum
of everyone else," remarked Laura.

"Such fellows as Prescott, for instance, I don't care much about,"
Bert continued, with a swift side glance at Laura Bentley to see
how she took that remark. But Laura showed not a sign in her
face.

"No?" she asked quietly. "I think him a splendid fellow. By
the way, he and Dave Darrin haven't received the reward for finding
your father, have they?"

Bert gasped. His face went white, then red. He fidgeted about
for an answer.

"No," he replied, cuttingly, at last, "and I don't believe they
ever will."

"Oh, I beg your pardon," cried Laura in quick contrition. "I
didn't know that it was a tender spot with you, or your family."

"It isn't," Bert rejoined hurriedly. "It simply amounts to this,
that the reward will never be paid to a pair of cheeky,
brazen-faced-----"

"Won't you please stop right there, Mr. Dodge?" Laura asked sweetly.
"Mr. Prescott and Mr. Darrin are friends of ours. We don't like
to hear remarks that cast disrespect in their direction."

"Oh, I beg your pardon," answered Bert, trying not to be stiff.
But he was ill at ease, leaving the girls very soon after.

Yet, in his hatred for Dick and Dave, young Dodge resolved upon
a daring stroke. He enlisted Bayliss, and the pair sought to
"cut out" Prescott and Darrin