m as they
journeyed along. "Can he be following us?"

"It is possible," returned Dick. "You know he would do almost anything
to harm us."

"He has got to keep his distance," said Fred. "I shan't put up with
any more of his games."

When they came to a turn of the road, they saw Dan Baxter and the
bushy-haired man a long distance ahead. The former bully of Putnam
Hall was on the lookout for them and at once urged his steed onward
at an increased rate of speed.

"He means to get away if he possibly can," cried Songbird. "If we
want to catch him, we have got to do our utmost."

On and on they rode, until another turn hid Baxter and his companion
from view again.

The bully was frightened, for he did not know what would happen to
him if he was caught by the Rovers and their friends in such a lonely
spot as this.

The man who was with him, a fellow named Sack Todd, noticed his
anxiety, and smiled grimly to himself.

"You're mighty anxious to git away from them fellows," he remarked.

"Well, if I am, what of it?" returned Dan Baxter sharply. So many
things had gone wrong lately that he was thoroughly out of humor.

"Oh, I allow you have a perfect right to give 'em the go-by if you
want to," answered Sack Todd. "I wouldn't mind helpin' you a bit--maybe.
Tell me about 'em, will you?"

"They are fellows I hate, and I've always hated them!" cried the
bully fiercely. "We used to go to the same boarding academy, and they
did their best to get me into trouble. Then I tried to get square,
and that put me in hot water and I had to leave. After that, we had
more trouble. They tried to prove I was a criminal."

"I see. Go on."

"It's a long story. I hate 'em, and I'd do almost anything to get
square with them."

"Good for you!" cried Sack Todd. "I like a fellow who wants to stand
up for himself. But just now you are running away."

"I can't stand up against such a crowd alone. But some day it will
be different."

"Let us turn down a side road," said Sack Todd. "That will throw 'em
off the scent."

He was a good judge of character, and fancied he could read Baxter's
story fairly well. The young man had come down in the world, and he
was bitter against everybody and everything.

They passed down a side path and then on to a trail that was all but
hidden by the grass and bushes.

"It's a short cut to Cottonton," said the man. "We can reach there
in no time by this trail. Very few, though, know of the route."

A