ps. Throughout
the afternoon I had noticed Tom's pointed objections to many things
I had done or had proposed to do. He had objected to Thora
accompanying us on the sealing expedition. He had disagreed with
the disposal of the dead hen harrier; other little incidents, most
of which had testified to his deep-rooted selfishness, I had not
failed to notice. More than all, I remembered how he had pocketed
the jewelled fragments of the helmet, and kept the knowledge of
their value from us all. As for the opinions of the other two lads
regarding him, it was Willie Hercus who had called him a "sneak" in
school that morning, and Robbie Rosson, I knew, had certainly no
love for Tom, who had persistently bullied him.

"Well, are you not satisfied?" said Kinlay, seeing my undisguised
indignation.

"Yes, with my own share," I replied. "But if you'd taken the
smaller piece of siller for yourself, and given Willie Hercus yon
piece you've taken, I'd have thought you more honourable."

And then I roundly accused him of having stolen the fragments of
the helmet.

"You have stolen the things," I said. "You saw that they were of
more worth than the rest, and you were afraid that we would want a
share of them."

"You're a liar!" he exclaimed angrily.

"And you're a thief!" I retorted; and I walked round to him,
determined, if necessary, to defend my accusation in a more
practical way than by empty words.

Now, I am confident that Kinlay was almost eager for such a chance
as this to pay back many debts which his own jealousy had from time
to time conjured up against me. For, apart from the fact that I
happened to be a little more brilliant than he in our class at
school, there were not wanting indications that he was in other
ways losing ground in our common race, and circumstances seemed to
require that we should each make a final effort now for the upper
hand.

Seeing my determined attitude, he regarded it as a challenge, and
at once took off his jacket and held it out for Robbie Rosson to
take charge of. Robbie promptly showed the tenor of his feelings by
allowing the jacket to fall upon one of the gravestones, and by
coming to my side. Hercus merely busied himself in pacifying my
dog, which had become restless on hearing our high words.

Kinlay and I now stood face to face, and I almost trembled to think
of the thrashing that was probably in store for me. He gave the
first blow, which struck me soundly on the side of the h