eeve.

This dominant youth was tall and lanky. He was only 17 years old, but as
big as a man, so far as altitude and the size of his feet were concerned.
He lacked one inch of being six feet tall, and he wore size 8 shoes. The
hope for his proportion was expansion, and judging from the hereditary
history of his paternal ancestry, there was good prospect for him in this
regard. His father was a large man and well built.

To complete the description of Cub, he was a youth of very wise
countenance. He liked to read "highbrow stuff" and reflect and inflict it
on such victims as were unable to counter his domination.

Bud was a short, quick, snappy, bold fellow, "built on the ground". It
is possible that he might have upset Cub in a surprise wrestle, but
nobody ever dared to "mix" with Cub in such manner; the lanky fellow
seemed to be able to out-countenance any suggestion of physical
hostility. The glower of his face seemed to spell subjection for all the
boy world about him.

But Bud would blurt out something now and then that seemed to startle Cub
into a mood of reflection, and whenever Cub reflected his dominance
wavered. Tee-hee was able to accomplish the same effect without a
"blurt". Tee-hee was sly, "as sly as they make 'em", but it was a kind of
slyness that commands respect. It even gave an air of respectability to
his laugh, for, ordinarily, a "tee-hee" sounds silly. But Hal's "tee-hee"
was constitutional with him, and his sly shrewdness gave it real dignity.

Cub was usually the dominating factor in all the boy arguments of their
"bunch", which varied in numbers from ten to twenty, according to the
motive of interest that drew them together. He seldom started an
argument, unless his disposition to "bawl" somebody out for uttering a,
to him, foolish opinion, he regarded as a starter. He seldom spoke first,
but usually last. One day he "bawled" Tee-hee for the latter's "silly
laugh", telling him that he would never be a man unless he learned to
"laugh from his lungs".

"You seem to like a lot of noise," Hal observed.

"Yes, it's the only thing that convinces me," Cub shot back rashly.

He realized his rashness, but it was too late. Tee-hee "got" him.

"I understand you now," the sly youth announced. "Whenever we have
a dispute, the only way for me to win is to make a bigger noise
than you do."

But Cub was not slow, and he evened matters up by roaring:

"You can't do it; you ain't got the lungs."

How