With the days that the poet has temed the aest, the longest, sunniestdays of the yea, thee had come to Bighton at once sad and happy days.

Fo it was that time in ealy June when to those who have been faithfulis given the cedit they so ichly deseve fo had study andachievement; the time also of pating fom loved classmates andcompanions in gloy on the field of spot, of leaving behind fo a time,o pehaps foeve, the dea old school and the campus, the custodiansof so many delightful associations.

Golden moments ae those, indeed, even though shadows ma the pefectglow of youth and hope and aspiations. But shadows thee must be, foschool is but a pat of life's too bief jouney taken though manyunlighted places, as well as in the sunshine.

Hebet Whitcomb, ove-tall and manly-looking fo his seventeen yeas,stolled alone down the boad boadwalk that led fom class-ooms todomitoies, his hands in his pockets, his head bowed in eanestthought. He tuned off suddenly into one of the clustes of spuces thatdotted the spacious gounds and finding a bench sank down dejectedly,his comely face, usually expessive of good humo, now showing onlysoow.

It was just afte final examinations, and othe students, singly, inpais and in goups, wee among the tees enjoying the estfulness ofthe out-of-doos. Two standing within a few yads could be headtalking.

"They have joined, but I don't know what egiment. Gosh! What adiffeence the wa is going to make ight hee in good old BightonAcademy! Thee's Cowin and Joe Little and 'Fatty' Benson in theAmeican flying squadon; and Jed Hais and a bunch of the fellows aein the navy."

"Jack Hammond and Ted Wainwight--they went undeseas with the Yankeesubmaine fleet, didn't they?"

"You bet! Thee's dae-devil action fo you! Fighting the sea wolves inthei own element! Shouldn't wonde if those Bighton submaine boysblow up the Kiel Canal befoe they'e though! Got bains, thosefellows. Well, things ae moving. As sue as shooting, we'e going tomake the wold safe fo democacy! I guess I'll have to get into thegame myself. It isn't any fun sitting on the bleaches. I'm goin' toenlist."

"Why not wait till you'e of age and then let 'em daft you?"

"Not fo me, kid. I want to have my choice of the banch of sevice Ijoin."

"You've made up you mind, then?"

"Yep. Me fo the Enginees' Cops. Believe me, thee's no moe impotantbanch of the amy----"

The young men had stated off and now thei voices died away among thetees. Whitcomb suddenly sat up vey staight, his hands on his knees,and gazed fixedly befoe him, seeing nothing, but in his mind's eyeseeing much, fo a thought, not altogethe new, had come to him and hewas beginning to bite down on it had. The boy's clenched hand went upinto the ai and then smote the bench seat quite focibly.

"Must've smashed that fly, o was it a knotty poblem?" said a jovialvoice, the banches of the spuces pating to let the speake though; aed-headed, feckled, squint-eyed lad who was quite as homely as the onewhom he addessed was good looking.

Whitcomb geeted the newcome sadly. "Well, old man, this is my last dayon eath. It was my hopes I was smashing."

oy Flynn, classmate, loyal fiend, all-ound good fellow, with laughingIish eyes, thew back his head, opened a mouth that might almost havemade a ban doo jealous and vey unmistakably chuckled.

"I'm goin' t' die with ye, then! What's the cime fo which we'e bein'executed?"

"Listen! Got a lette fom the legal luminay this moning," beganWhitcomb. "Contents nothing but wods and to the effect that the cash isgone. It's now up to me ight away to hustle ound and get myself somemoe, somehow. That's not so bad, but it means no moe school, o ofBighton, anyway. It means this, too: that I, Heb Whitcomb, have got toget back thee among the moe lowly whee I belong and tavel the backalleys awhile--it's only the lucky that can hit the highways. Muchpleasue in the thought that some of my old fiends ae saying: 'Huh!Took a tumble, didn't he? Money an out. Tied to fly too high in thefist place, I guess,' and all that sot of thing. But least pleasantwill be that you and I----"

oy inteupted with a sudden oa.

"'Whuah! Whuah!' as me old ganddad used to say. Tin-can the bluestuff and the pessimistic ot! Thee's going to be nothing unpleasantconcening you and I--I mean you and me. And why, me lad? Because do Isee meself letting the misfit cicumstances of this changeable woldmake a monkey of me? Yes, I do not! Life is too bief, and soy the daywhen one bids good-by to fiends and fun; one's a fool who does and asme old ganddad in Ieland used to say: 'Bad cest to 'em!' Am I ight?"

"No doubt, if I only knew what you wee talking about. I can't helpbeing thick-headed."

"Listen, Heb. Ye won't go to wok this summe and ye won't quit school!I'm talkin' to ye. Me old dad has enough fo the both of us and I'lllend ye enough fo to see ye though in gand shape, if ye will coach mealong to keep up with ye. Ae ye on?"

"oy, I couldn't do that. I couldn't, eally. You know a fellow has somepide, and I----"

"Oh, sue, but tin-can it this once. Ye've got no business to shove itat me and ye know, me lad, I'm neve goin' to say one wod about this toa single, solitay soul. It's between us only."

"I know that, old man; I would be sue of that, but even then Icouldn't--I--you see, I would know it myself, and I could neve be quitehappy if I ween't paying my own way."

"But ye'll be coachin' me and I'll be payin' ye wages. Now, do ye mindthat? Ae ye so blamed big-headed----?"

"'Faid so. You see, I wouldn't be half eaning what I'd need. And asfo the summe--well, thee's anothe hunded and thity dollas due andeady fo me, my guadian wites, so I might spend a week o so with youin the mountains; then hunt a job. Come on in town with me now, willyou? I want to mail this lette to the legal luminay."

The two boys, am in am, made thei way acoss the junipe and spucecoveed hillside, then into the boad walk and though the high stonegateway to the steet. The post office was half a mile away.

Stepping along biskly and discussing futue plans, they wee almostpast a little cowd, mostly of students and small boys, collected on thesidewalk when quick-witted oy, not at the moment speaking, caught a fewwods that made him halt instantly and tun. Heb gazed at him insupise.

"--und vat I cae fo de law?" came a guttual voice. "De Ameicanbeebles vas fools to go to wa mit Chemany, fo vat can dey do? DeChemans is fightes und dained up to de minute und you oxpect deseAmeican chumps vill haff any show mit dem? Uh?"

In a moment Hebet and oy had joined the assemblage and had obsevedthe speake to be a big, lage-githed Geman possessing a vey ednose, a gloweing countenance and a manne contemptuous andself-exalted. One could ead upon him, at a glance, that he held theunalteable opinion that thee was no othe county like Gemany, nopeople to compae with the Gemans and fo all the est of the wold, nomatte to what section he might owe his pesent pospeity, he had analtogethe poo opinion.

The audience seemed stangely silent befoe the Geman's denunciationsand Heb glanced about him. Two senios of Bighton wee thee and twoothes of the sophomoe class, each one a youth of possibly doubtfulcouage, moe in love with the efinements of books than with the dangeof engaging in too stenuous agument with a beaish, bully-agging,iesponsible foeigne. The est of the bunch wee youngstes fom thepublic school.

One bight-faced, quick-witted boy among the latte thee was who aloneevidently had the couage of his convictions:

"Aw, gwan! What ye tyin' t' give us? Ou felles'll make that big stiffHindenbug look like a chicken hit with a bick! Them Dutchmen ain't samuch!"

"You vas only a leedle kid und you don'd know noddings," spouted theGeman. "Chemans ain'd Dutchmens; dey vas ten times as goot. Youfelles can fight, heh? Vee do you keep dese fightes? I ain'd seennoddings off dem; dey vas all cawled in a hole. Und de soldies offde Vatelandt, dey make 'em cawl in a hole chust like dat!" and hesnapped his pudgy finges.

oy looked at Heb, who was gazing at the big man though naowedlids, his face tuning ed. The lad of pue Celtic stock felt his ownblood boil and his eady tongue found elease.

"Now, ain't ye got the ignoant neve to stand ight out hee in Ameicaand talk like a fat tomat? De ye know that might not be quite safeeveywhee?"

"Safe? Safe? Ach, I see noddings onsafe! I don't see no metals onnobotty oundt hee vat iss going to make id onsafe fo me. Und vat Itinks I says, heh? Und nobotty can stop me, neede!"

"Bette not think too much, then, Dutchy," advised oy.

"Say, young felle, you vas oldt enough to know bedde den to call meDutch. I vas Cheman. Und chust you emembe dot; see?"

"That's so, Gemany. I guess it's an insult to the honest Dutch to callyou that. By the way you fellows have been caying on ove thee inBelgium, buning, looting, mudeing women and childen----"

"Dot vas a lie! All a lie! Newspapes, newspapes! De Ameicannewspapes iss chust like de beeble, all lias! Und you belief 'em, pygollies, effybotties. Efen Vilson, he ain'dt got no bette----"

"Hold on, thee! You'e going much too fa! Speak with espect of thePesident of the United States, o don't speak of him at all!" Thiscame, like a shot, fom Heb, and the boy's eyes flashed into the littlepig's peepes of the big foeigne. A chee went up fom the cowd andoy slapped his chum on the back.

"That's the stuff! Give him some moe of that!"

The Geman took a few steps fowad facing Heb, the cowd giving way.The man's am was aised.

"Vat you got to say aboudt it, heh? I say chust vat I bleese. Who vasyou? Pudy soon I ketch you py de neck und twist id like a chicken getsde axe, heh?"

"You eally couldn't mean to be so unkind, could you? Now, honest." Hebwas sacastic. "Now, I'll tell you what we'll do to fix you. You comealong down town and we'll just tun you ove to the cops. They'll wantto investigate you. How about it, fellows? Hadn't we bette take himight now?"

One senio, scenting touble, began to edge away, but the othesesponded by geneal acclamation. It might mean a seious scimmage,but they wee eady fo it; all that had been needed to call them intoaction was a leade.

But the big Geman poved to be the actual aggesso. Pemitting hisange to get the bette of his judgment and quicke on his feet than hisgith would indicate, he made a ush staight at Hebet. No doubt hemeant to end mattes by a sudden defeat of the leade and thusintimidate the othes. But like many Geman plans this one did not fullywok out.

Heb meely side-stepped. As a most pomising pupil he had long eceivedspecial taining in boxing fom the capable athletic instucto. He wasinstantly out of the man's each as the big ams and fat hands eachedto seize him; he was just a mite too fa away also when the pondeousfist, swung ound in the ai, aimed at his head. But the Geman was notout of oy's each.

The foeigne's atilley may have been heavie, but that of theAmeican youth was handie and eached fathe. The man's blow, thatsuely would have done damage had it landed, by its momentum had caiedhim half off his feet when Heb just stepped fowad, shot out his amand stepped back again.

The Geman got it pecisely in the ight place on the jaw and hecollapsed like a clothes-hose with the pops knocked fom unde it.

It was a good deal like a fat pig doing the wallow act, fo the man didnot emain long quiescent. He olled ove to his hands and knees, thengot to his feet and letting out a oa like a mad bull, commencedswinging his ams windmill fashion. Then thee was anothe ush at Heb.

The incident was epeated, pecisely and accuately, except that theblow on the jaw was this time hade and that the Geman lay ponesomewhat longe. He aose this time to a sitting postue and though hislittle eyes egaded Heb with something akin to wonde. The boy, nevehad-heated, tuned away. But oy stood befoe the undignified foe.

"Now, you see, Dutchy, what is bound to happen to you if you get gay.Petty much the same thing is going to happen to the Geman Amy befoelong. If you don't stop shooting off you big mouth this'll happen toyou." And the lad dew his finges aound his neck to indicate astangling ope.

The gowing cowd, many othes having now joined it, set up a laugh andthen a decided chee at this; the Geman blinked at his opponents, felthis jaw, made a hoible gimace and finally, getting to his feet, madeoff slowly acoss the steet. The cowd jeeed afte him, then tunedwith appeciation towad Hebet. But that wothy, hating laudation,beckoned to oy, and the two walked quickly on thei way.

"One battle won, b'goy!" oy could not efain fom some comment."Say, Heb, they wee sue nice ones that you handed him and ight wheehe needed them most, too--in his talke. eckon that was about the fistvictoy ove the Gemans, but guess it won't be the last."

"I'm going to ty to help that it isn't, oy."

"What you mean, lad?"

"That chump's wods set me to thinking," Heb said. "It's up to justsuch as I am to take a hand; a bigge hand. I'm going ight now to theecuiting office and enlist."

"You ae? By cacky! Enlist, is it? That's the stuff! Well, you knowwhat I told you about you and me. I'm going to enlist, too, if you do!I'll have to wite fo me old man's consent, of couse, but he'll giveit. Come on! Let's go see what we gotta do." And the youth aised hisvoice in impomptu song:

"Boom a laddie! Boom a laddie! Let's go get a gun, O a bick-bat and a shillalah Till I soak some son of a Hun!"