“Well, let ’em; I don’t care.”

“And your people and your schoolmates will laugh at you, when you return home.”

Bob was silent, deeply pondering.

“Don’t you care?” Fitz Mee asked, cackling explosively.

“Yes, I do! But I’ve got to go, anyhow; I’ll die here.”

“Oh, no, you won’t, Bob,” said the goblin, teasingly.

“I will, too,” said Bob, desperately in earnest; “I know.”

“You’ll have to go to school, if you return home.”

“I don’t mind that; I’ll have other boys to play with, anyhow.”

“Yes, but you’ll have to obey the teacher.”