steady eyes and spread until it touched the corners of the other boy's
lips again.

"You mean--leave?" Young Denny asked.

Ogden nodded significantly.

"That's just what I do mean--only a great deal more so!"

"But I--I couldn't very well do that now--could I?"

The silk-shirted shoulders shrugged hopelessly.

"Well, since you ask me," he said, "judging from what I've already
seen of your methods, I--I'd say most emphatically no. I've done all I
can when I advise you that now is the one best hour to make your
getaway. It wouldn't be exactly a glorious retreat from the field, but
it wouldn't be so painful, either. Just remember that, will you? I'm
to fit you out with some fighting togs, I suppose, if you'll just come
along."

He turned to follow in the direction which Hogarty had taken, and then
paused once more.

"Beg pardon for the omission, Mr. Bolton," he added, and he smiled
boyishly. "My name's Ogden--Bobby Ogden. Glad to become acquainted
with you, I'm sure. And now, if you will follow on, I'll do my best
for you. Would you mind walking on your toes? You see, there are just
two things most calculated to get Flash's goat. One of 'em's marring
up his floor with heavy boots, and the other is butting in when he's
playing dominoes. You couldn't have known it, of course, but he can't
stand for either of them. And together I am afraid they have got you
in pretty bad. You're sure you can't swallow your pride, and just beat
it quietly while the chance is nice and handy? Maybe you ought to
think of your family--no?"

Denny's smile widened. He shook his head in refusal. He knew he was
going to like Ogden--like him for the same reason that he had liked
the fat, brown-clad newspaper man in Boltonwood--because of the
charming equality of his attitude and the frankness in his eyes.

"No," he decided, "I--I'm afraid I can't. I didn't mean to stir him up
so, either, only--only I thought, just for a minute or two, that he
was laughing at me. I think I'd rather stay and see it out. But you
mustn't worry about me--I wouldn't if I were you."

Again Ogden shrugged resignedly. On tiptoe Denny followed him to the
locker-rooms in the rear, and at a word of direction began to remove
his clothes. While he plunged head-foremost into a bin in search for a
pair of white trunks, Ogden kept up a steady stream of advice
calculated to save the other at least a small percentage of
punishment.

"Sutton's big," he exclaimed jerkily, h