Dick the Bank Boy | Page 2

of having had a hand in the mess. Why did you jump off when by a twist of the handlebars you could have saved the machine? Suppose you blame yourself, not me."
"But you saw that I had lost control, and if you'd only wanted you could have stopped its plunge; but you'd rather see me get into a peck of trouble. How d'ye suppose I'm ever going to lug that heavy thing back up to the road now?" demanded Ferd, spitefully.
"Oh! I don't mind giving you a hand at that. I hate to see such a fine machine lying in the mud like a mired cow," declared Dick, cheerfully.
Ferd looked at him dubiously, as though his spirit urged him to decline the generous offer of assistance made by one he chose to regard as his enemy; but the road was lonely, no one might come along for some time to help him, and the motor-cycle was too heavy for him to drag out of the hole unassisted.
So he swallowed his pride, and grudgingly allowed Dick to take hold on one side while he dragged at the other, and in this fashion the machine was speedily placed once more on dry land.
Of course it was pretty well soiled, and did not look very much like the spick-and-span new wheel that a few days back had been the envy of every boy in Riverview.
Dick, who could not bear to see anything abused, immediately snatched up a handful of grass from the side of the road under the fence, and commenced to wipe the worst of the muck away.
"Never mind bothering yourself about that; I guess I can attend to it when I get home. It wouldn't have happened anyway if I hadn't met you on the road," said Ferd, with a return of his bitterness.
Dick looked at him queerly, and then threw down the rough wiper he had been using.
"I guess you're right. And as I didn't do anything to trouble you it looks as if you just wanted to knock me into the ditch. It's a case of the biter bitten, Ferd. When you see me helping you pull your old machine out of the ditch again you'll know it."
Filled with indignation he turned and walked rapidly away, leaving the other looking after him, still angry and yet perhaps somewhat ashamed in the bargain.
This was not the first time these two lads found themselves facing one another with fire in their eyes.
In school they seemed to be constantly ranged on opposite sides, and the rivalry had extended into many of the natural pastimes indulged in by growing boys, from baseball in the summer to football in the autumn and skating and hockey in the winter.
The rivalry seemed unequal from one point of view, since Ferd was the only son of Archibald Graylock, proprietor of the big department store in the town, and known as a wealthy man; while Dick lived in an humble cottage with his mother, a widow, and their circumstances had been growing more and more straightened during the last year, so that our hero was seriously contemplating giving up all hope of attending school again in the fall, and seeking a position.
Dick's father had been a carpenter known for his many good qualities; he had by frugality and prudence saved a sum which had been invested as he thought judiciously, and would serve as a means of support to his little family in case anything happened to him.
Seriously injured in an accident he had lingered for nearly a year and then been taken, leaving the mother and son to face the world. For several years things went along smoothly, for Mrs. Morrison was an excellent housekeeper, and could make a dollar go a great ways without appearing to be niggardly; but unexpected misfortune overtook them, and the company in which most of the carpenter's savings had been invested struck a reef, so that not only did the little income cease from this source but there was danger that the principal might also be lost.
This was the serious condition of affairs in Dick's home at the time he met his bitter rival on the road; he had been buried in thought, trying to see what his duty might be, and as he continued on after leaving Ferd he endeavored to forget the unpleasant incident, and resume his planning.
Chances for work were not very abundant in and around Riverview.
Dick knew little about farming, and besides, even though he should secure a job in that line he was aware that most farmers insisted upon their help being on the ground all the time, as they had to get out long before daylight to feed the stock, and since he could not leave his mother alone he had to pass any such