gainst hard knocks whenever they
try to even up the score."

"But you're going to help me out of this, I hope, Buck?" Fred went on,
pleasantly, almost pleadingly, for he had much at stake.

"Oh! am I? You don't say!" mocked the other. "Now, how d'ye suppose I
c'n reach down seven feet or more, and give you the friendly hand? Think
my arms stretch that far? Perhaps, now, you imagine I'll just drop in
like the poor old goat did in the fable, to let the smart fox jump up on
his back, and then out? If you do you've got another guess coming; see?"

"But there's an easy way to do it, Buck; and because Riverport needs
every little help she can get to win out to-morrow, I'm going to ask you
to do it for me."

"Sounds big; don't it?" the other went on, in his sneering way. "You're
the Great Muck-a-muck, and will carry off the prize for the long
distance run, I suppose you mean? Well, with the great luck you have,
perhaps you will--if you're there when the pistol cracks for the start.
Now, go on and tell me what you mean, and how could I get you out of
this hole--if I took the notion to try?"

"I suppose you've got your knife with you, Buck?" Fred went on.

"That's where you've got another guess coming, Fenton; fact is, I broke
the last blade in it yesterday, and threw it away," Buck answered.

"Well, then, that seems to make it harder to carry out my plan," Fred
remarked, disappointment in his tone.

"Wait," said Buck; "perhaps, after all, I might get a knife from the
feller along with me, here."

He disappeared, and Fred, straining his ears, could hear him talking in
a low tone with some one else. He was filled with a deep curiosity to
know whatever brought Buck Lemington here to the old limestone quarry;
just as the day was passing. The last thing Fred had heard in connection
with Buck was the fact that his suspected connection with the desperate
attempt to spoil the calculations of Riverport school with regard to
winning the laurels of the athletic meet by kidnapping their best
sprinter, Colon, had met with universal condemnation among the good
people of the town. There was even talk of a committee going to complain
to his father.

Perhaps Buck had in some way gotten wind of that expected coming of the
townspeople, and he might even now be on his way to some haven of
refuge, to remain practically in hiding until the storm blew over.

A minute later, and once again the face of the grinning bully protruded
beyond t