ppeared to be fully nipped in
the bud.

"Grant is right," several of the boys replied.

"Grant!" sneered Nevers, angrily. "He wasn't always so nice as he is
now."

"That's so," said Redman, as he placed himself by the side of the
bully. "We know a thing or two about Grant, before he became pious."

"What do you mean by pious?" demanded Richard, stepping up to the
speaker; and as he did so, his fists were involuntarily clinched.

"Watermelons!" replied Redman, vindictively.

"Watermelons!" added Nevers.

"Watermelons!" responded a dozen or more of the large boys, who had
gathered around Redman.

"Do you walk in your sleep any now, Grant?" said Redman, with a mocking
laugh. "You wasn't pious _then_."

Richard was so mortified and confused by these taunts that he wished
the earth might open and hide him from the exulting gaze of his
assailants. His blood boiled with shame and indignation, and more than
ever before he realized that "the way of the transgressor is hard." His
first impulse was to rush upon his dastardly foes, and crush them
beneath the weight of his strong arm.

Most of the boys looked at each other with astonishment, wondering what
could be meant by "watermelons," and walking in his sleep. It was
evident to Richard that only a few of his companions understood the
reflections cast upon him. There he stood, trembling, as it were, in
the balance, and ready to be carried up or down by this new and most
terrible trial--up into a higher sphere of virtue, or down into a
deeper degradation than any he had yet fathomed.

"I will be true to myself!" said he to himself, after he had stood
silent for a moment, blushing with shame, and assailed by the foe
without and the foe within.

His clinched fist unclosed, the muscles relaxed, and though his face
was still red, a smile of triumph played upon his lips.

"Will you go, Watermelons?" sneered Redman.

"I will not," replied Richard.

"Shut up, Redman," interposed Nevers, who entirely mistook the singular
change which had come over Richard's countenance. "Come, Grant, you and
I will talk it over alone;" and he took his arm, and led him away from
the crowd.

"You see we know all about these things," continued Nevers, "but we
don't want to be hard upon you. Only about a dozen of us know any thing
about those scrapes."

"Who told you about them?" asked Richard.

"That's nothing to the purpose. You are a good fellow, Grant, and I
advise you to join us;