The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1938-01-21

and there's only one way to do it.
I've got to talk to you about Bart
Hodge. I want to tell you why ]
asked you to be friends with him."
Inza's words gave Frank a small
jolt. She had kept him there to
talk about Bart Hodge, and that was
not so good. Almost anything else,
he thought, would be better.
She saw a faint cloud pass over
his face and spoke again quickly:
''Now don't get me wrong, Frank.
Wait till you've listened in on what
I'm going to tell you."
She made him sit down again and
then seated herself in front of him,
where they could talk quietly and
confidentially.
81 know what you've thought Of
my friendliness with Bart, for Pm
not dumb even if you've imagined
So"
He flushed. Was she a mind
reader?
"I'm going to betray a confidence
to you," she went on frankly,
though I didn't mean to do so un-
til today-until I heard you give
Bart credit for doing his best to stop
my runaway horse. That proved
something to me, something I was
pretty sure Of before. It proved
you're fair enough, generous
enough, to give an enemy his just
dues. And it makes you different
from almost every other fellow !
ever met"
His flush deepened. "I've never
found it gets you much to knock
anybody, even an enemy" he said.
"Maybe / should have said, espe-
cially an enemy. For when you
knock an enemy people know you've
got it in for him and the knock has
a kick-back that hits you right be-
tween the eyes. So maybe in my
case you should call it a plain bit
of sense instead of generosity, In
"a"
"Well, then it's your plain sense
I'm going to shoot at, Frank" Her
smile was compelling and he knew
he was falling for the spell Of it.
81 had to work fast to get little
sense into Bart's head the day he
took to his heels and left you to
protect me from that mad dog.
''He came here to see me that
very afternoon, and if ever a fell
low was sunk he was. You can't
imagine how Inundated n d
ashamed he was, Frank. He came
to say good-by, for he had made up
his mind to get out of Fardale be-
fore the sun went down. He knew
just what he'd made himself look
like, and he just didn't have the
stomach to face it out in the school.
81 was ready to burn him up my
self. / was just waiting to do it.
That was why I'd seen him at all.
Then he told me that all his life,
ever since he could remember, he
had had an unreasoning fear of
dogs. It had made him hate all
dogs. And suddenly I understood,
for I, too, am silly that way. I
have to force myself not to be afraid
of dogs know are perfectly HARM
less. A ridiculous little Dachshund
can give me panicky filters just by
yapping at me. Isn't it goofy,
Frank"
"But Hodge has some other quail
ties that are not so admirable, eli
ther," said Frank.
II know. I'm coming to them.
But first let me tell you how I had
to 60 to work on him to make him
give up the idea of running away. I
appealed to his pride. told him he
would look to me like an all-around
gutter if he did that, not just
fellow with a silly fear Of dogs.
That was how I got under his skin
and made him give me his word not
to quit"
'But your brother said you were
hot over the piece that appeared in
the newspaper later. He said you
were ready to fry Hodge,"
"Well, I was. I 60 off the deep
end that way sometimes, before I
get all the angles on a thing. I
hadn't seen the newspaper then, and
the way I heard it Bart had said