reek
Then Comes The Tug
Of War!'

Two little determined figures, with flushed, resolute faces, stood
opposite one another on a narrow footbridge over a running stream.

Neither could pass the other, but neither intended going back, and the
sturdy maiden, in her sailor dress, with her small hands placed on her
hips, appeared quite a match for Teddy, who, with his golden head well
up, looked like a war-horse scenting the battle-field.

It was thus they met again; both employing their Saturday afternoon in
roaming along the edge of a stream, they had suddenly come face to face
with one another.

'You're to let me come over first,' she asserted very emphatically,
'because I'm a girl.'

[Illustration: 'YOU'RE TO LET ME COME OVER FIRST,' SHE ASSERTED.]

'Boys never go back. A soldier's son never! I'm not going to turn my back
before the enemy--I would disgrace my button if I did.'

'That old button!' The tone was that of utmost scorn.

Teddy's cheeks grew rosy red at once, but he said nothing.

'I got to this bridge before you did,' she continued.

'I began to cross it first. And _you_, who are you? No one knows anything
about you. I have been crossing this bridge for _years_.'

'More reason you shouldn't cross it now. My name is Nancy Wright, that's
who I am.'

A princess could not have revealed her name more royally. She added,
after a pause, 'And I mean to come over first, so go back.'

'Never! I never go back!'

'Then I shall push you over in the water.'

'Come on and try, then!'

Then there was silence; both the little people eyed each other defiantly,
yet a little doubtfully, as if measuring one another's strength, and
their faces grew eager at the coming contest.

'Boys always ought to give way to girls, always,' Nancy said, using her
strongest plea; 'you're not a proper boy at all.'

'You're not a proper girl. You're wearing a boy's hat and a boy's
jacket.'

'I'm a sailor's daughter, and everybody can see I am. You say you're a
soldier's son, why don't you dress like one?'

Teddy felt he was getting the worst of it. He fingered his button
proudly.

'I'm wearing something that has been in the thick of a bloody battle;
that's more than you can do. Sailors don't know much of fighting.'

'They know just as much as soldiers, and as to your old button, I b'lieve
you just picked up the old brass thing from the gutter!'

'If you weren't a girl, I'd fight you!' sputtered Teddy now, with
risin