ht; it would not be fair to dignify
what followed with such a name. Jake was knocked down by the first blow;
he tried to get up, and was promptly knocked down again. That brought
him to his senses.

"Had enough?" asked his conqueror, simply.

And Jake, lying in the dust at his feet, sobbing, and trying to pull
himself together, stammered out, "Yes!"

"All right! Get up, and go over there by the side of the road and sit
down. And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay there, too, or
else turn around and go where you came from. If you follow us you'll get
into trouble--more than you're in now, and that seems to be about all
you can handle, judging from the looks of you."

Then he turned away contemptuously, and went back to Dolly and Bessie,
who were watching him admiringly.

"Isn't he splendid--so brave and strong?" cried Dolly.

"It's a good thing for us he came along," said Bessie. "Jake is strong
enough to hurt us or do anything he likes to us, but I always knew that
he couldn't do anything against a boy his own size. I wish they hadn't
had to fight, but in a case like this it's all right, because it's the
only thing to do."

"Well, I like a boy who can fight when he has to," said Dolly, stoutly.
"I haven't any use for sissies, and I think that's all Jake really is,
for all his bluster."

"Well, I guess he won't bother you much more," said their champion, when
he returned to the surrey. "I'm only going as far as Tecumseh, but I'll
be glad to give you a ride that far if you want to go."

"We do indeed," said Bessie. "And we're ever so much obliged to you for
saving us from that fellow and for offering us the ride too. Do you know
when we can get a train at Tecumseh for Deer Crossing?"

"Right soon now," said the boy. "It's due most any minute but I'll get
you there in time. That's the train I'm going to meet--got to take some
summer boarders from the city out to pop's place. My name's Bill Burns.
My pop's got a farm over that way"--he pointed with his whip--"about two
miles."

Bessie and Dolly told him their names then, and he asked where they were
staying at Deer Crossing.

"Mercer Farm, huh?" he said, when they had told him. "I got a cousin
works over there--fellow by the name of Walter Stubbs. Do you know him?"

"Yes, indeed," said Bessie, with a smiling look at Dolly. "We saw him
this morning. Dolly thinks a lot of him."

"Oh, is that so?" said Bill Burns. He looked at Dolly, then bent over