"Oh! you want to make a friend out of the worst enemy your own brother's got; do you?" the bully sneered. "Well, why shouldn't I leave him here to suck his thumb all night, tell me that?"
"Because it'd be wicked," cried the excited boy. "Because if it hadn't 'a been for Fred Fenton you wouldn't be havin' no brother Billy right now!"
"What d'ye mean, Billy?" roared the astonished bully.
"Remember when your canoe got home without you goin' for it, Buck? That was the time. It throwed me out in the middle of the river, and I'd 'a drownded sure, only Fred, he swum out and saved me. And that's why I say you ain't goin' to leave him here to freeze and shiver all night. 'Cause he's my friend, that's why!"
And Buck Lemington knelt there, for the minute unable to utter a single word, so great was his amazement.
CHAPTER XVIII
FORCED TO LEND A HAND
"Is that right, Fenton?" the bully finally demanded, turning to look at the dimly seen face of the boy deep down in the hole. "Did you haul my brother out of the Mohunk waters?"
"That's just what happened, Buck," Fred replied, a warm feeling once more taking possession of his heart; for somehow he seemed to know that the coming of this unlooked-for ally would turn the scales in his favor; and, after all, he would not have to spend a horrible night in that damp hole.