He hoped that Ferd did not mean to be as disagreeable as usual, and perhaps force him into a war of words, or even worse; and remembering what he had promised the anxious little inmate of the rose cottage, he shut his teeth hard with the firm determination not to be drawn into a row if it could possibly be avoided.
As he walked on he presently came up to where the other stood, with one foot on the ground, balancing his machine and ready to go on again slowly, pedalling as Dick tramped.
"Hello! Dick. Thought that was you. You jumped just in time or I might have hit you a nasty blow. Fact is I was forgetting that the beastly old town was so close by. Hear you've been working down at old Cartwright's mill. Got a steady job?"
Dick was surprised at being spoken to in this fashion by the one whom he had grown to look upon as his inveterate enemy, and who in the past had never addressed him save to utter some sneering insult; could it be that after all there was a spark of decency in Ferd, and that when he came to reflect on how shabbily he had treated the boy who had shown such willingness to help him drag his motor-cycle out of the ditch, he was a little ashamed of his actions?
Dick was quick to seize the olive branch, though rather skeptical with regard to what it could really mean.
"I have been working there five days, and would like to keep right along only Toby has got well enough to go on his job again. Now I must look around and see if I can find something else to do, for I've got to bring in some money to help out at home, you know," he replied.
He could see the sneer upon Ferd's lip, for that young man had never earned one cent in all his life, and foolishly looked down upon the unfortunate boy whom fortune compelled to face the world and wrest his living from it.
"I was thinking of you when I heard my governor say he wanted more help. Perhaps you might strike a job there. I'll even put in a good word for you to-night. Of course you understand that I'm not doing this because I like you any better than before, but you did me a half decent turn yesterday, and I'm not the one to forget it. Besides I don't want to see a dog starve if I can help him by raising my hand. Come around and see the old man to-morrow, and perhaps he'll offer you something."
The cool patronizing manner of the fellow when he said this galled Dick exceedingly, and had it been only himself whom he had to consider he would have snapped his fingers in Ferd's face.
But then he reflected that the other was doing him what he considered a very great favor, and that of late he had had that old saying to the effect that "beggars should not be choosers" rubbed into his soul.