“Not on your life!” was the answer. “You need not be afraid of that. I shall not blow on any of my pals.”
“All right. We didn’t know.”
“Don’t worry.”
Then Frank and his strange friend set out through the woods and the darkness, Merry following the lead of the other.
They proceeded in silence till the edge of the woods was reached. There the big fellow halted, saying:
“We will part here.”
“All right,” said Frank, holding out his hand. “I want to thank you for your friendship.”
“I don’t deserve it.”
“I think you do. But for you, I might have walked on crutches for some time to come, or been crippled for the remainder of my life. I was in a bad box, and I could not help myself.”
“That is true, but I helped put you in that box. Not till you showed your nerve was I ready to stand by you. If you had been a coward, I should not have had the least sympathy with you; but I couldn’t stand by and see Conrad torture a chap with sand.”