"That's a lie, but let it go at that," rejoined Hal Overton. "It would be too much, anyway, wouldn't it, Tip, to expect the truth from you?"
"You always were down on me," replied Branders half coaxingly. "If you'd only taken more trouble to understand me you'd have understood that I'm not a half bad fellow."
"No; only about nine-tenths bad," grimaced Noll derisively.
"Well, there's no use in my staying here to talk with you fellows," muttered Tip angrily. "You never were friends of mine. So I'll be on my way."
"Tramping it for forty miles, are you?" called Noll, as Tip turned away.
"'Bout that," Branders called back over his shoulder.
"Then, man alive, why don't you keep to the road, instead of scrambling over these rough boulders?"
Tip's only answer was a snort.
"Come back to the road," proposed Hal to his chum. So the two rookies clambered back over the ledge and down onto the excellent military road. But they caught no further glimpse of Tip Branders; plainly he preferred different paths.
"What do you make out of Tip?" asked Noll, a minute later.