martyr going to the stake.

He was about two-thirds of the way up when he caught sight of Bob
Cochrane coming swinging down towards him. Bob was just the kind of
fellow every boy wants to grow into--big, well-made, splendidly
manly; he looked jolly in his riding-suit.

"Hulloa!" he called as soon as he came within speaking distance.

"Hulloa!" Eustace called back tonelessly, his heart thumping hard,
his colour coming and going ridiculously.

Bob waited till they met. Then, "Well, youngster," he said gravely,
putting a big hand on the lad's shoulder and walking on beside him,
"you've had a rough time since I saw you last. I don't wonder you
shot at that dingo in the way you did; I should have done it
myself, I believe, under the circumstances."

Eustace's heart almost stopped beating, he was so surprised; he
could not speak a word.

"Of course that chap coming the night before put you all on edge,"
proceeded Bob, "and you were flurried by the first shot. That might
have been a nasty business too. Glad you didn't hurt yourself."

There was another pause, but Bob did not seem to mind. He went on
again presently,--

"It is just this kind of thing, I always think, that gives one a
bit of a useful warning: first, to be cautious; and second, to keep
a cool head. You'll never go to sleep with a revolver ready cocked
again, and another time you will give yourself a second's
deliberation before you fire at anything looking like a man. It
might have been Robertson making a tour of the house, you know."

Eustace felt suddenly rather sick.

"I never thought of that," he said.

"Of course not," was the cheery response. "One doesn't look all
round a question in a hurry, but one has to learn to remember there
may be two sides to it. You'll get the hang of the idea one of
these days. I know it was a long time before I gave up wanting to
shoot down everything I didn't quite like the looks of. Sometimes
it turns out well, sometimes pretty badly."

He ended with a little laugh. Eustace, looking up into the merry,
kindly face, knew that the awful time he had so dreaded was over,
and it had not been an "awful time" after all. Bob did not think
him a fool; he might have done the same himself, he said. He only
warned him to be more careful another time, and gave him the
reasons why he should.

The boy had always admired this friend of the family; he positively
glowed with pride at this minute that Bob was a friend of his own.