First in the Field

, and were--especially the two seconds--wondering what the doctor would say when he came back, and how severe their punishment would be.

The fight had done the little dark-eyed fellow good. It was like so much liniment rubbed into his bruise to see the brutal tyrant of the school well thrashed; and feeling that with such a protector as Nic he had no more to fear from Green, he was not above giving expression to his thoughts.

"Never you mind, Nic Braydon," he said. "I shall speak out when the doctor has us up. It wasn't your fault, but bully Gooseberry Green's. He began it, knocking me about, kicking me--a brute. I shall tell the doctor everything just as it happened."

At this Green raised his face to dart a vindictive, threatening look at the little fellow, but he had not paused to think about the state of his face, which was comic in the extreme, and instead of alarming Tomlins made him forget his lameness more and more, and sent him into a fit of laughter.

"Here, boys, look at Go