"I did," said Wallie. "We walked together until I turned off to take the east road. He kept straight on toward the Gingham Ground and I heard him yell some time afterward."
"You don't suppose that the Gang got after him, do you, and locked him up or something?"
"I'll bet that's what they did," said Benny. "That is just what happened. They got after me, too. I was scared half to death and didn't want to go through the Grounds, but it was getting late and I knew that Ma would be worried, so I braced up and started through on a run. In a minute two of them ran out and grabbed me by the collar."
"'It's one of them village kids,' said one of them. 'Let's call the Gang and duck him. He needs it to cool off.'
"Then he whistled and a lot of the others came and they hustled me down to the river. Gee, I was mad and I was scared. Then, just as I had about given up, another boy came chasing after us.
"'Is this Benny Wade?' said he.
"'It's all that is left of me,' I told him.
"With that he jumped in and took hold of me.
"'Youse ain't a goin' to duck this kid,' said he, 'unless you duck me along with him. His partner came through here this morning and fixed my dog's broken leg and he told me to watch out for Benny Wade and have him look at the bandage, to see if it was all right. Now, kid, you come along with me and look at my dog.'
"'Duck 'em both,' said some one.