PAGE [Danny Again!] 1 [Christmas Eve] 29 [*A Sporting Kid] 54 [*A Midnight Adventure] 72 [The Secret Room] 80 [*In Mid-Air] 108 [*Dicky’s Chance] 119 [*The Bishop’s Story] 127
*Reprinted from The Wolf Cub by kind permission of Messrs. Pearson.
ILLUSTRATIONS
PAGE [And then—then he saw the terrible sight; a horse and sleigh was standing across the run] Frontispiece [His eyes met a pair of watching eyes fixed on him through the crack of the curtains] 18 [Crash! The scooter and its small rider had hurled themselves against the burglar’s legs] 78 [“It’s just like a submarine,” said Eric, “only much too small. But I say,” he added bending over the boat, “it is a submarine—a tiny one!”] 98 [Clinging on with one hand and his legs ... he had soon cut a great jagged hole in the canvas] 116 [There was the time he was standing on a step-ladder in the street, cleaning the windows, and a very elegant lady, Mrs. Jones, had called and been much shocked] 122 [Gradually he led the horse, still prancing wildly, away past the throne] 134
DANNY AGAIN
Danny Again!
I
HOW IT BEGAN
It all began the morning after a Zepp raid. The village of Dutton had had a very narrow escape. Six bombs had been dropped in the night, but not a single person had been hurt. One sad thing had happened, however, and Danny Moor was the first one to make it known in the village, and the first one to decide how the damage should be put right. The Huns had dropped a bomb thirty yards from the little grey church, and a great piece of metal had smashed to fragments a beautiful stained-glass window. Danny was sad, for the Cubs loved that window very much. It represented the shepherds at Bethlehem on the first Christmas morning, and the Cubs had discovered to their delight that the Child Christ in His Mother’s arms had His two fingers raised, as if in the Cub salute! So they looked upon the little chapel where the window was as their special corner of the church, and it was there that the monthly church parade took place. Now, the window lay in splinters of shimmering glass upon the floor, and the morning sun streamed through a jagged hole where before used to be the little figure of the Holy Child, smiling down upon the Cubs. But as Danny stood looking sadly at the blue sky through the hole, a bright idea came to him, and he made a vow that before long a new window should be put up in the place of the broken one, and that he and the Cubs would pay for it.
After school that morning he got the other Sixers and Seconds to come and hold a special council in the corner of his garden, and then he told them the sad news. “But I’ve vowed we’ll put up a new window,” he said; “will you help?” They all agreed at once, and Fred Codding, practical as usual, began to count the cost. “It’ll cost an awful lot,” he said, “I should think nearly a pound.” “Oh!” said the others. “Well,” continued Fred, “there’s eighteen of us; say we each gave sixpence, that would be 9s. Then my six has got 2s. we saved up for buying a bat—we’ll give that.” “Eleven bob,” said Danny, “good.” “I say,” said Freckles, “what about asking Mr. Fox to give that 5s. the squire gave him for our picnic next Saturday?” “Good idea,” said one of the others, “that’s sixteen bob. I bet we can raise four more somehow.”
So directly school was over that afternoon they dashed down to their chaplain to tell him the splendid good turn they were going to do. He was very pleased. But he said he thought £1 would not do it. He looked up the cost of stained-glass windows in a big book. “I’m afraid it will be £20,” he said. The Cubs did not gasp nor show what they felt.