The Motor Boys | Page 3

put on his brake."
Ned sat up and opened his eyes. A few seconds later Noddy Nixon did
likewise.
"What happened?" gasped Ned, rubbing the dust from his eyes.

"You had a little spill, that's all," answered Bob.
"A little spill? I should say we did," snarled Noddy, who was larger and
stronger than any of the three chums, and older, being about eighteen.
"A nasty little spill it was, too. And all your fault, Ned Slade! Why
didn't you look where you were going?"
"Why didn't you look?" asked Ned, hotly. "I turned out to avoid you,
and if you'd been paying attention you wouldn't have steered right into
me. It's as much your fault as it is mine."
"My leg's broke," came from Noddy. "You'll suffer for this!"
"Get up and let's see if it's broken," urged Bob, taking hold of Noddy's
shoulder.
"Oh! Ouch!" screamed Noddy, who though he was strong and a bully
was also a great coward in pain. "My shoulder's broken, too. I'll sue
you for this, Ned Slade, after I get well, and I'll lick you, too."
"Oh, dry up," muttered Ned, who was painfully limping toward his
wheel.
When Noddy came to move he discovered that he was not as badly hurt
as he had foolishly imagined. He got on his feet, brushed the dirt from
his clothes, and found that he could walk all right. But he scowled
darkly when he saw Bob grinning at him.
"You're more scared than hurt," said Bob.
"Look here, you impudent little snob!" burst out Noddy, limping over
toward the boy who was still smiling. "Don't give me any of your lip. I
won't stand it. I'll knock your head off!"
"Better not try," advised Bob quietly, the smile leaving his face. "Two
can play at that game."
"Yes, and so can we all of us," broke in Jerry, who was something of a
boxer. "We're sorry for what happened, Nixon," he went on. "but you

needn't rub it in."
"Oh, shut-up!" cried Noddy, turning away, and picking up his wheel.
"I'll get even with you for this, though," he muttered.
"Two of my spokes are broken," he went on, after an examination of
his bicycle. "You'll have to pay for them, Ned Slade."
"So are two of mine, and my handle bars are bent," retorted Ned. "I
guess we'll call it even, Noddy. I won't charge you for straightening the
handles," and he laughed in spite of the pain of his bruises.
"You... you!" began Noddy, but rage seemed to choke him, and with
scowling face he mounted his wheel and rode slowly away. "You just
wait!" he shouted back, shaking his head at the three boys.
Chapter II
A MEAN PLOT.
"WELL," began Bob, when the three chums were ready to proceed on
their way, Ned having been brushed off. "I'd like to have Noddy for a
close friend, I don't think! Wonder what makes him so mean?"
"Born so, I s'pose," grunted Ned. "Any one else would have laughed
over such an accident. He seemed to think I did it on purpose."
"He talks as though he did," ventured Jerry. "I wonder what he'll do to
get square?"
"Oh something sneaking, you may depend on it," replied Bob. "That's
the way with Noddy and his kind. He's nothing but a big bully. Never
fights with any one but some one he's sure he can whip. I don't know's I
could lick him, but I'd like to try once."
"Me too," said Ned, "after I get over being stiff."
When Jack Pender, who was a toady of Noddy Nixon, called on the

latter in a sort of club-house in Nixon's yard that night, he found the
bully in no amiable frame of mind.
"What's the matter?" asked Jack.
"None of your business," snapped Nixon, lighting a cigarette.
"You needn't be so cross," whined Jack, who was used to rather shabby
treatment from the bully, to whom he toadied in the hope of favors.
"I guess you'd be cross if you had the tumble I did to-day," growled
Noddy.
"Somebody knock you down?" asked Pender, incautiously.
"Somebody knock me down? I'd like to see 'em try it," boasted Noddy.
"No. I was out taking a spin, and that young cub of a Ned Slade tried to
upset me. I got even with him, though," added Noddy, to whom telling
the truth did not come natural. "I gave his wheel a twist and sent him
flying. I guess he won't forget his fall in a hurry. He got worse than I
did," which was not so, though Jack did not know it.
"Serves him good and right," chuckled the toady. "I can't bear Ned.
He's too uppish. Thinks because his father has a little money he's better
than