Gordons--I'll show them how I'll get
even with them."

The spirited animal on which he was mounted made short work of the
two miles that lay between Don's home and Bob's, and in a few minutes
Lester dismounted in front of the wagon-shed, where his crony was
waiting for him.

"I've had no luck at all," said he, in reply to Bob's inquiring look.
"I might as well have stayed at home. Don says he can't join a club
of this kind, because, having got David the job of trapping the
quails, he can't go back on him. He says he's a poacher and
pot-hunter himself; and what surprised me was, he did not seem to be
at all ashamed of it."

"Of course he wasn't ashamed," said Bob. "He thinks that everything
he and his pale-faced brother do is just right. Did he say anything
about what passed between Bert and myself at the post-office?"

"Not a word."

"I was afraid he would," said Bob, drawing a long breath of relief,
"for he knows that you and I are friends."

Yes, Don knew that, but there were two good reasons why he had not
spoken to Lester about Bob's threat of slapping Bert over. In the
first place, he was not aware that Bob had made any such threat. Bert
was one of the few boys we have met, who did not believe in telling
everything he knew. Do you know such a boy among your companions? If
you do, you know one whom nobody is afraid to trust. Bert wanted to
live in peace, and thought it a good plan to quell disturbances,
instead of helping them along. He knew that if he told his brother
what had happened in the post-office, there would be a fight, the
very first time Don and Bob met, and Bert didn't believe in fighting.
But even if Don had known all about it, he would not have said
anything to Lester. He would have waited until he met Bob, and then
he would have used some pretty strong arguments, and driven them home
by the aid of his fist. How much trouble might be avoided, if there
were a few more boys like Bert Gordon in the world!

"I am not sorry I went down there," continued Lester, "for I had the
satisfaction of showing those conceited fellows that there are some
boys in the settlement besides themselves who know a thing or two. I
read the constitution to them, and it would have made you laugh to
see them open their eyes. Bert was so astonished that he couldn't say
a word, and Don never took his gaze off my face while I was reading.
When I got through he asked me to read that clause with the Latin and
Greek in it ove