his gallant heart, Stud set himself to climb
Standing upon the shoulders of tvv
brother scouts, in his belt a club snatched
from one of them, he reached the lowest
point of the tapering fissure.

"Ha! There he goes, in spite of his
teeth," tremored a younger boy.

"His teeth aren't chattering!" Pem's
eyes--lightning-blue--hurled back the
charge.

The denial rang in Stud's ears as he
thrust his head into the black opening,
entering, amidships, as the former muddle-headed
explorer had done.

"That girl's a trump--the girl with
eyes the color of the little 'heal-all', that
blue flower we pick up here in May! A
trump! But so's little Jess, too!"

Thus did Stoutheart, a knight of to-day,
pay tribute to the world he left behmd him,
when he felt in his exploring knees, now
creeping along the bottom of the Tinker's
Pot, that there was a chance of his leaving
it behind forever.

[[148]]

p147 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p148w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p149

v?