at this time."

"Yes, I believe the black fellow said he expected Master Dick. He
always likes to fetch Dick up and will go for him at any time, day or
night."

"To be sure, for Dick always gives him a tip."

The hill down which the two boys were now gliding at a good rate was
quite steep, there being a decided drop a few rods in advance and a
number of sharp turns, the rounding of which required considerable
dexterity and the coolest of heads.

They were two-thirds of the way down and had reached the steepest part
of the hill when, in rounding a particularly sharp turn where they had
to keep all their wits about them, they saw just ahead of them, in the
middle of the road, a boy carrying a suitcase.

"Hi! get out of the road!" roared Harry, taking a tighter grip on his
handle bars and apprehending trouble.

"Look out!" cried Arthur in shrill tones.

The boy in the middle of the road, not more than fifty feet distant at
this moment, stood perfectly still and cried in a clear voice, sure to
be heard above everything else:

"Swerve a bit to the side, both of you and there will be room enough."

Simultaneously, he made a quick signal to the right and to the left.

Arthur steered a little to the right while Harry went to the left, both
whizzing past the boy in the middle of the road who held his suitcase in
front of him and stood perfectly still.

Neither of the boys even grazed him but there was little room to spare
and the wind of the two wheels caused his coat to flutter violently and
almost took off his soft hat.

In a moment more both boys were speeding down the hill at a tremendous
gait and in another were out of sight around another and less sharp
turn.

"My word! but that was a close shave!" ejaculated Harry, with a sigh and
a feeling of intense relief. "I made sure that we were going to get
spilled, the three of us."

"Some cool head that!" returned Arthur. "Lots of fellows would have gone
all to pieces. I came pretty near doing it myself."

"He knew just what to do and when to do it," Harry went on. "Only for
that there would have been a bad mix-up."

"Well, there wasn't!" grunted Arthur, "so don't say any more about it.
It gives me the creeps to think of it. That fellow has some nerve.
Wonder what he was doing on our road? You can't get anywhere except to
Hilltop Academy that way. If he's a new student why didn't he come with
Bucephalus and the coach?"

"Can't tell you. Maybe he didn't know