d him,"
cried Mark fiercely.

"Well, I dunno what Sir Eddard'll say when he knows."

"What he says he'll say to me," cried Mark. "You fellows ought to be in
the mine by now. Go back to your work."

The youth stood pointing down the steep slope, and an angry murmur of
opposition arose; but the men began to move off, only to be called back
just as Ralph rose painfully to his feet.

"Come here," cried Mark. "Pick up those pieces of rope."

"Who's going to take them back to the mine?" said the leader, in an
ill-used tone. "What's Dan Rugg going to say? Noo rope too."

"Tell him I cut it," said Mark imperiously. "You take it back."

The man picked up the pieces, and Tom quietly took up the creel from
where it lay, half hidden by a tuft of fern fronds, to begin moving off
with the trout. But Mark let him get a few steps away before following
with a rush and a kick which sent the man on his face. Then, as he
struggled up, angry and threatening, the lad snatched the creel from his
hands.

"The Edens are not thieves," he said fiercely--"only when they want a
few young ravens," he added, turning with a mocking laugh to Ralph; and
once more the two lads stood gazing in each other's eyes for a few
moments, the rustling made by the departing men and the murmur of their
voices rising from below.

Then, imitating Ralph's action of the last time they met, he pointed
down to the river, and said, with a mocking laugh:

"It's my turn now. The Darleys are not the only ones who know how to
treat a fallen enemy. Your creel, sir; and you are welcome to our
trout."

Ralph took the basket without a word, and without taking his eyes from
Mark's, while it seemed as if each lad was fighting hard not to be the
first to let his glance sink before the other's.

Then Ralph raised the lid of the creel, and began to take out the fish,
but hesitated, and laid them back. To have thrown them on the ground
seemed to him contemptible and mean.

"Now go," said Mark. "You and I are straight, sir. Next time we meet I
hope you will wear your sword."

Ralph hesitated, and remained standing in the same place; his eyes
looking as if he wanted to speak, but no words would come; and at last
he turned and took a step to go, but his numbed feet and ankles gave way
beneath him, and he tottered, and would have fallen, had not Mark
involuntarily sprung forward and caught him in his arms.

Ralph laughed painfully.

"Let me sit down on the