odall. We ran on Mr. Gregson's ground after a butterfly. It was my
fault, sir, for, of course, Goodall went where I did. We ran among his
wheat, and I really did not notice where we were going till he called
to us. I was wrong, of course, and am ready to pay for any damage we may
have caused."

"You are welcome," the farmer said, "to trample on my wheat for the rest
of your born days. I haven't come over here to talk about the wheat,
though I tell you fairly I'd minded to do so. I've come over here, Dr.
Parker, me and my missus who's outside, to thank this young gentleman
for having saved the life of my little daughter Bessy. She was walking
along the road when a mad dog, a big brute of a mastiff, who came, I
hear, from somewhere about Canterbury, and who has bit two boys on the
road, to say nothing of other dogs and horses and such like; he came
along the road, he were close to my Bess, and she stood there all alone.
Some of my men with pitchforks were two hundred yards or so behind; but
law, they could have done nothing! when this young gentleman here jumped
all of a sudden over a hedge and put himself between the dog and my
Bess. The dog, he rushed at him; but what does he do but claps a bag
he'd got at the end of a stick over the brute's head, and there he holds
him tight till the men comes up and kills him with their forks.

"Young gentleman," he said, stepping up to Frank and holding out his
hand, "I owe my child's life to you. There are not many men who would
have thrown themselves in the way of a mad dog, for the sake of a child
they knew nothing of. I thank you for it with all my heart. God bless
you, sir. Now, boys, you give three cheers with me for your schoolmate,
for you've got a right to be proud of him."

Three such thundering cheers as those which arose had never been heard
within the limits of Dr. Parker's school from the day of its foundation.
Seeing that farther work could not be expected from them after this
excitement, Dr. Parker gave the boys a holiday for the rest of the day,
and they poured out from the schoolroom, shouting and delighted, while
Frank was taken off to the parlor to be thanked by Mrs. Gregson.
The farmer closed his visit by inviting Frank, with as many of his
schoolfellows as he liked--the whole school if they would come, the more
the better--to come over to tea on the following Saturday afternoon, and
he promised them as much strawberries and cream as they could eat. The
invitat