hool hours, and made to play the part of a "mollycoddle," as
Roosevelt called all such fellows who have never learned how to take
care of themselves when a bully threatens.

Unused to the woods and hills, of course the first thing Claude did
was to lose all sense of direction. He became alarmed, and that made
matters worse than ever. So he had roamed about for almost a full
hour, dreadfully tiring his poor feet and limbs, since he had never
before in all his life walked so far and done such vigorous climbing.

Then he had come to that precipice, and, thinking he might glimpse
the cottage where the old nurse lived, somewhere down in the valley,
he had incautiously crept too close to the brink, when his weight
caused a portion of the soil to give way. Finding himself falling,
Claude had clutched desperately around him, and, as it happened, his
fingers gripped a friendly bush, to which he continued to cling even
as he struggled to better his condition and shouted as best he was
able.

Hugh finished the story, to the edification of "Just" Smith, who
admitted that if it had not been for the courage and muscular ability
of Hugh the other boy must long ago have fallen to the bottom of the
awful precipice. And Claude, shivering as he afterwards looked up at
the forty feet and more of rocky wall, vowed he would never rest
satisfied until he too had learned how to develop his muscles so that
if ever again caught in a similar scrape he might have a fighting
chance for his life.

The two boys eventually found the cottage, although Mrs. Jardine and
the car had gone down the road hoping to overtake Claude, though they
were expected back again later; so, leaving Claude there, Hugh and
"Just" Smith continued their seven-mile run.

CHAPTER XII

STARTLING NEWS FROM THE JUGGINS BOY

"Burr-r-r-r!"

That was the telephone bell ringing.

"Hugh, will you answer it, since the chances are the call is from
some one of your numerous boy chums?" the voice of Mrs. Morgan came
from the dining-room, where she was looking after the silver and
china, after washing up the supper dishes, for they temporarily
chanced to be without a hired-girl.

Hugh guessed as much himself. He had already been called to the
phone several times since arriving home after his seven-mile spin.
Once it had been Claude's mother, begging him to be sure and call at
her house early in the morning, because she wanted to have a good,
long, earnest talk with