Page:Dave Porter in the Far North.djvu/68

50 my back! Oh, Dave, it's terrible,—you can't imagine how hard it is!" And there was a quiver in Gus Plum's voice that meant a great deal.

"I am sorry to hear of this, Gus. But you must live it down, there is nothing else to do."

"I can go away—my folks are ready to send me to another school."

"Don't do it—stay here and fight it out. I know how you feel—I felt that way when they called me 'a poorhouse nobody.

"Oh, Dave, I did that! I am so sorry now!"

"You are bound to win in the end—if you do what is fair and honest. So long as Doctor Clay is willing to keep you, you'd better stay by all means."

"Yes, yes, I know, but—but—there is something else." Plum dropped his hands in his face. "I don't know how I am going to tell you, but I want to tell somebody. It's been on my mind ever since it happened." And then, to Dave's amazement, Gus Plum threw himself across the bed and began to sob violently.