d not speak. He was luxuriating in
the restful peace which comes after strenuous physical action and the
consciousness of successful accomplishment. A feeling of intense pride in
the troop filled him. "They're a corking lot of fellows--corking!" he
said more than once under his breath as he looked around the room with
shining eyes. "How they did get after that bunch in the last quarter!
I--I wouldn't belong to any other troop for--for anything!"

Now and then, to be sure, his eyes strayed to the farther end of the
room, where Ranny Phelps was having his swollen ankle bandaged by two
of the most skilful exponents of first aid, and a faint touch of
questioning crept into them. Since that breathless moment on the
field when Ranny's efforts had left the way free for Dale, he had not
spoken to the tenderfoot nor by so much as a glance recognized his
existence. Dale wondered whether his mind was merely taken up with his
injury, or whether the change that had come over him in the heat of
the game had been only a temporary thawing.

As the days passed, the latter suspicion became a certainty. At their
very first meeting, in fact, the tenderfoot found Ranny as aloof as ever.
To be sure, Dale noticed that he no longer seemed to try to impress
his attitude on the others in his patrol. Apparently without rebuke,
stout Harry Vedder became quite friendly, and even Rex Slater and one or
two others in the clique treated him with a good deal more consideration
than they had before the game. But the leader himself made no effort to
disguise his coolness toward the new-comer, and Dale presently found it
hard to believe that the helping hand, the friendly voice, the touch
of that muscular shoulder as they fought side by side on the field in the
furious struggle against odds had been real.

He did not brood over it, because he was not of the brooding sort. More
than once he found himself regretting that impulsive action which had so
increased the other boy's antagonism, but for the most part he contented
himself with the unqualified friendship of most of the troop, and entered
with zest into the various scout activities.

Perhaps the most interesting of these were the long hikes and week-end
camping-trips. Mr. Curtis was a great advocate of the latter, and as
soon as the end of football made Saturdays free again, he announced his
intention of undertaking them as often as the weather permitted.

Unfortunately, there were not many sites a