what Dick gave you this
afternoon," Toby shot back as he walked through the gate.

Toby was as good as his word. He told the news at school the next day,
and Ben Alvord's stock went even lower. After school that afternoon Dave
Darrin made Ben apologize. So did Reade, Holmes, Hazelton and Dalzell.
It was a bitter pill for young Alvord to swallow. The fights that the
other chums had claimed were now called off. They felt Ben to be beneath
their notice.

CHAPTER XXI

AB. DEXTER MAKES A NEW MOVE

"Did you hear the latest from Ab. Dexter?" asked Dave, as he met Dick
one Saturday afternoon in November.

"No; nothing very good, was it?"

"That's hardly to be expected," laughed Dave, as the two chums came to a
halt on a street corner. "Did you happen to remember that Dexter and
Driggs were due to come up for trial in court this afternoon?"

"No; I had forgotten the date."

"Well, this was the day. Justice Lee, if you remember, bound them over
to answer at court."

"Yes; I remember that."

"Well, neither of them showed up, and so the court declared forfeited
the cash bail that Dexter put up for the pair."

"The money ought to be worth more to the county than both men put
together," laughed Dick.

"I guess that's the way the court looked at it."

"I hope Dexter and Driggs are both a mighty long way from Gridley, and
that they will stay. Mrs. Dexter isn't having any bother at all, these
days, is she?"

"You ought to be the one to know that," teased Dave. "You're the one she
sends for whenever she takes it into her head that she wants to reward
us for some jolly good fun that we had in helping her."

"I had a note from Mrs. Dexter a few days ago," Dick went on. "Maybe I
forgot to tell you about it. She wanted me to call on her, and I wrote
back that I was awfully sorry but that my evenings just then had to be
put in getting ready for the monthly exams. I haven't heard a word from
her since then."

"She's a fine woman," nodded Dave, "but she certainly has the reward
habit in bad shape."

"Feels some like snow, doesn't it?" inquired Dick, looking up at a
lead-colored sky.

"It'll rain," predicted Dave. "It isn't yet cold enough for snow."

"I'll be mighty glad when the snow comes."

"Maybe I won't," uttered Darrin. "That's the best time of the
year--winter."

"Unless you call summer the finest time."

"Of course in summer we have the long vacation and plenty of time to
have fun."

"Better duc