mself panting on the grass
beside him.

'I must keep in training: a fellow so soon gets slack and out of
practice if he is lazy,' was the answer.

'Well, being lazy is good enough for me in the holidays,' the elder boy
said. 'I should think it pretty hard lines to have to run a mile in this
sun.'

'It makes all the difference, though, if you are keen,' Frank told him.
'I want to be the fastest runner in the school, and I don't want to go
back and find I am easily beaten in the sports.'

'I don't see the good of it myself,' said Harold, rather scornfully, but
Frank only laughed good-temperedly, and began to swing himself on a
branch of the tree for change of exercise. If there was one thing he
hated more than another, it was sitting still for too long a time.

The same evening the boys were on the platform of the little village
station, watching some trucks being shunted from the main line on to a
siding. Suddenly there was a loud cry from one of the men engaged in the
work as a heavy truck got off the rails, turned over, and dragged
another with it. No one was seriously hurt, but the station-master, who
was soon on the scene of the accident, turned pale as he saw the
obstruction on the line.

'Stop the down express!' he shouted. But the signal-box was a quarter of
a mile away, and precious minutes would have passed before he could be
near enough for his voice to reach the signal-man. By that time it might
be too late to stop the express.

Then, like an arrow, a nimble little figure flew past him. It was Frank,
his running powers put to some practical use at last. The station-master
followed as quickly as he could. But when at last he came up breathless,
he found that Frank had already done his work, and the signal was
against the train.

'It's touch-and-go whether we have caught her,' muttered the signal-man,
and they all held their breath as the rumble of the train was heard in
the distance.

'She's slowing down--she's safe!' gasped the station-master, and he
hurried down again, followed by Frank and the signal-man.

But it was only a few yards off the overturned trucks that the express
was finally brought to a standstill. The few seconds gained by Frank's
speed had saved her. Nothing could have prevented a terrible accident if
the signal had not caused the train to slow down just in time.

The passengers crowded round Frank, and thanked him warmly when they
heard the story, and a few days later came a mo