ished that he was big
and strong.

"And don't you drop those birds, or I'll give you another," shouted
Green, as he sent another pebble flying.

The boy stifled a sob, and followed limping.

"Lean on me, Bob," said Dominic.

"Thank you," sobbed the boy; and then in a whisper, "My hip hurts as if
it was put out."

"Not so bad as that," said Dominic in a low tone; and he helped the boy
along till Green looked back, saw what was taking place, and shouted:

"Now then, none of that, Convict. He's only shamming. Let him alone."

"Don't let him touch me, Nic," whispered the boy piteously; "I can
hardly walk."

Dominic said nothing, but his brow was full of lines; and he looked down
at the ground and supported his companion by tightly holding his arm.

"Do you hear?" roared Green, stopping now. "I told you to leave that
little sham alone."

"I'm not shamming, Nic," sobbed the boy in a whisper; "it hurts
dreadfully every time I move my leg."

"Oh, you won't, won't you?" cried Green menacingly. "I shall have to
give you a lesson too, Master Braydon, and transport you into a better
state of mind. Stand aside, will you?"

As he came up he struck Nic a back-handed blow across the chest, forcing
him backward and making Tomlins utter a cry of pain.

"Now then, none of that," continued Green. "Go on, and take care of
those birds,--go on!"

The boy in his dread and pain, wincing in the expectation of a fresh
kick, staggered on for a few paces, and then with a cry of misery fell
forward flat upon his chest.

"Mind those birds!" yelled Green, starting forward, and bending down he
flung the wretched boy over on to his back so as to extricate the bird's
nest.

But he was too late; the unfortunate callow songsters had been saved
from a lingering death by starvation and imprisonment, the sides of the
clay-lined nest being crushed in, and the breath out of the tender
little bodies.

They were quite dead, and in a fit of vindictive rage Green flew at the
innocent author of the mischief.

"You miserable little beast!" he roared; and his foot was raised to
deliver a savage kick. "Get up!"

But instead of Tomlins getting up, Green went down. For, quick as
thought, Dominic rushed at him.

"Let him alone!" he cried hoarsely; and the fierce thrust he gave sent
the young tyrant into a sitting position upon a cushion-like tuft rising
from the closely cropped grass.

But that tuft was only cushion-like in appearance.