mer
camps, trainers, travel, automobiles--and what have they all amounted
to?"

He talked rapidly and nervously, emphasizing with his cigar.

"It's no use to offer him any prize; he's had everything already. I
found he was hitting too rapid a pace in the bigger schools, so I sent
him down here. Thought he might do better in a quiet place. But his
reports didn't show it, and the talk I've just had with the principal
has pretty near discouraged me. I've bucked up against a good many tough
propositions, but I'm free to say that he's the toughest. I don't see
where he ever got that cigarette habit. I never smoked one in my life."

Again he began puffing furiously.

"He ought to have the stuff in him somewhere; and I believe a summer
with you fellows'd bring it out. If it didn't, I don't know what would.
Come, boys! Strain a point to oblige me! I'll pay you anything in
reason. How large a check shall I write?"

He reached for his inside pocket. Spurling flushed and held up his hand.

"No, Mr. Whittington," said he, decidedly, "we can't do business that
way. We're not running any reform school and we're not asking anybody to
give us a cent. We're going out there to earn money for our first year
in college, and we're going to take it out of the sea, every last
copper! I don't say it to boast, but since I was ten I've had to shift
for myself. I know where every cent in my pocket and every ounce of
muscle on my body has come from. If Percy should go with us he'd have to
take his medicine with the rest of us and pay his own way by working.
Give us a little time alone to talk the matter over, and we'll soon tell
you whether he can go or not."

Whittington heaved his square bulk erect and crushed on his hat.

"I'll be back in ten minutes."

Almost to the second he was at the door again. Stepping inside, he
awaited their verdict, not trying to conceal his anxiety. A great relief
overspread his face at Spurling's first words.

"All right, Mr. Whittington! Percy can come--on trial. He can stop with
us a month. Then if we don't hitch together he'll have to leave. But if
he likes it, and we like him, he can stay the rest of the summer. If the
bunch earns anything over and above what it would have gotten if he
hadn't been with us, he'll get it. If it doesn't, he won't."

Five minutes later the millionaire entered Percy's room. The latter was
smoking a cigarette and playing solitaire. He glanced up expectantly, a
couple of ca