“He got home Friday. Gerald wanted me to go to dinner at Sound View to-day, but I begged off. There’s a kid who has improved since he came to Yardley. You don’t remember him two years ago, do you?” “Only dimly. I don’t know him very well. I used to think he was a bit stuck-up, but several fellows have told me I was wrong.” “You were,” replied Dan earnestly. “Gerald’s just as decent a chap as there is in school, and I’m not saying that because he’s my roommate or because I sort of brought him up. But I will acknowledge that he wasn’t very promising when he first came. His father had pretty nearly spoiled him without realizing it a bit. But Yardley is a great place to take the nonsense out of a fellow. Gerald had his troubles for a while and then, having plenty of common sense, he took a tumble and knuckled down.” “I ran across quite a character the other day,” said Ned. “I guess it was two or three weeks ago now. A fellow named Burtis.” “Burtis? I met him. He came to my room one night just after school opened and told me to put him down on the list of football candidates, or something like that. I remember it tickled Gerald and me to death. But he was rather a smart-looking chap, as I recall him. How’s he getting on?” “Oh, having his troubles too, Vinton. We all do at first, I guess. But he will make good, unless I’m very much mistaken. I’m showing him golf just at present.” “By the way, you fellows played Broadwood the other day, I hear. How did you come out?” “They won three out of five. They’ve got a pretty good team. Golf is one of their strong suits.” “They do some things fairly well,” Dan allowed. Then, after a pause, and with a smile, he went on: “Funny, isn’t it, how rabid we are at first; when we’re juniors, say? I used to think that the Broadwood chaps were a lot of thugs and assassins. My patriotism was absolutely murderous! After a while you meet some of the Greenies and it’s quite a shock to discover that they’re really a very decent lot of fellows, not much different from your own crowd.” “I know,” Ned agreed. “I remember once when I was a youngster here; it was my second year, I think; I went home on the train with some Broadwood fellows. They sat across the car from me. I really expected them to be a lot of bounders and instead of that they were a fine-looking set and behaved themselves all the way to New York. As you said, it was something of a shock. And there’s the school, by the way. You can just see a corner of a building through the trees.” “Yes, I see. That’s the gym, I think. They’ve got a mighty good location for a school, haven’t they?” “Nice and high, but too far from the water. Here’s where we turn off, isn’t it? What’s the sign board say?” “‘Lloyd 3½ miles,’” Dan read. “We’re almost halfway, then. It hasn’t seemed far. How are your legs?”