"Bob," he said, "I'm glad you told me all of this. I begin to understand
now. They haven't given you a fair chance; I see that. They've cowed you
down and have nearly broken your spirit. All right. Show them that you're
going to make something of yourself, all the same. We all have our
troubles," and Frank told something of his own irksome, unpleasant life
with his fault-finding aunt.

It was by slow degrees that Bob Upton livened up and then braced up. No one
could help liking Frank Jordan.

"You're a cracking good fellow," said the farmer boy at last. "I hope it
isn't like the spurts Jeff Upton used to have one day, and wallop me like
thunder the next."

"I'll see to it that no one wallops you or jumps on you," promised Frank.
"You keep right with me till you learn the ropes and unlearn all the
bitterness those relations of yours have put into you. I'm going to have
you and me paired off for the same room, if I can."

"Say," choked up Bob at this, "any fellow who would do that, after seeing
how measly mean I can be, is a brick. Just wait. When the time comes that I
can show you what I think of you, I'll be there, true as steel."

"I believe you will," said Frank heartily. "You've been a good deal of a
martyr, Bob Upton, and--there's your chance to be a hero! Quick, for
mercy's sake, stop that runaway!"

Frank shouted the words excitedly. He had removed the ropes from Bob's
wrists and ankles, and they had been standing near the coat spread out on