ere was really nothing to do but stand and take what was coming to
him, at the same time give as good as he knew how.

They would never be able at any rate to say they had won an easy
victory.

By this time they were beautifully daubed with mud, as each appeared to
be the under dog while the minutes crept along.

Darry's only hope lay in the possibility of some one passing that way,
and as the day was so stormy, and few people ever took this road, his
chances were indeed slender.

Now the whole bunch seemed to be upon the ground alongside the road,
struggling like a pack of Kilkenny cats, the three aggressors having
their hands on Darry at one time in the endeavor to subdue him.

Suddenly Jim gave a hoarse cry.

"Haul off dere, fellers; somebody's comin'!" was what he ejaculated.

Immediately the other two sprang to their feet like a couple of deer,
afraid lest they be caught at their game; perhaps a vision of old Hank
Squires flashed before them, with the penitentiary in the background.

Darry, out of breath, but game to the last, made an ineffectual attempt
to hold one of his tormentors, catching the flying end of his jacket;
but such was the moment of Sim's upward movement, and the flimsy
character of his wearing apparel, that the entire section came away,
remaining in the grip of the enemy as he went tearing after his mates.

The three of them plunged into the bushes alongside the road, and were
lost to sight, leaving Darry half sitting up on the road, plastered with
mud, and ruefully surveying the strip of cloth in his hand.

After all it proved to be a false alarm, for no one came in sight.

Darry was not foolish enough to invite a further attack by remaining on
the ground after the enemy had temporarily withdrawn, so he gathered
himself together and continued along the road, feeling of his limbs to
ascertain just how seriously he had been bruised, and trying to scrape
some of the mud from his clothes.

He felt ashamed to let Mrs. Peake see him in this condition, for the
clothes had been Joe's, and naturally she would feel badly to discover
how they were now treated to a coating of mud.

But then the fact of his having such a joyful surprise for her would
discount any bad effect of his appearance.

Thinking thus, Darry put his hand eagerly into the inside pocket where
he had so carefully stowed the little leather pocket-book in which the
hundred dollar bill given him by Paul, as well as the amount w