his happy face, was
the first person he had come across--and here then was his opportunity.

Fred saw him assume the attitude of a prize fighter and knew what it
meant. Sam had a cut, red and swollen, across one cheek, and this helped
to make his unpleasant face more ugly and lowering than usual.

What was to be done? To turn and run never occurred to Fred. To meet him
and fight it out was equally impossible; so Fred stopped and looked at
him irresolutely.

"You're afraid of a licking?" asked Sam, grinning ominously.

"I don't want to fight," said Fred, quietly.

"No more you don't, but you've got to."

Fred's blood began to rise. The words and looks of the rough boy were a
little too much for his temper.

"Move out of the way," he said, walking directly up to him.

Sam hesitated for a moment. The steady, honest, bold look in Fred's eyes
was far more effective than a blow would have been; but as soon as Fred
had passed him he turned and struck him a quick, stinging blow between
his shoulders.

"That's mean," said Fred, wheeling round. "Strike fair and in front if
you want to, but don't hit in the back--that's a coward's trick."

"Take it there, then," said Sam, aiming a heavy blow at Fred's breast.
But the latter skillfully raised his books, and Sam's knuckles were the
worse for the encounter.

"Hurt, did it?" said Fred, laughing.

"What if it did?"

"Say quits, then."

"Not by a good deal;" and in spite of himself Fred was dragged into an
ignominious street fight.

Oh, how grieved and mortified he was when his father, coming down the
street, saw and called to him. Hearing his voice Sam ran away and Fred,
bruised and smarting, with his books torn and his clothes, too, went
over to his father.

Not a word did Mr. Sargent say. He took Fred's hand in his, and the two
walked silently to their home.

I doubt whether Mr. Sargent was acting wisely. Fred never had told
him an untruth in his life, and a few words now might have set matters
right. But to this roughness in boys Mr. Sargent had a special aversion.
He had so often taken pains to instill its impropriety and vulgarity
into Fred's mind that he could not now imagine an excuse.

"He should not have done so under any circumstances," said his
father sternly, to himself. "I am both surprised and shocked, and the
punishment must be severe."

Unfortunately for Fred, his mother was out of town for a few days--a
mother so much sooner than a father reach