‘Don’t humbug me,’ foamed the colonel; ‘I see your dodge plainly enough. You are trying to gain time in order to invent a lie of some sort. But I’d have you know I’m master here, and I’ll have the truth out of you before I’m done with you.’ ‘Ez fur ez that goes,’ began Ephraim, when a voice at his elbow said in clear, distinct tones: ‘It is you who are insolent. Southern gentlemen do not lie.’ Ephraim started. He had taken all the colonel’s remarks as addressed to himself, supposing that Lucius was still lying on the ground behind him. But, unknown to his friend, the younger boy had risen on the approach of the colonel, and taken his stand at Grizzly’s side. To give way when surrounded by dangers of such a novel and unimagined order as those from which he had just escaped was one thing; but with his feet once more on _terra firma_, Luce’s courage returned, and, if he felt any uneasiness at the predicament they were in, he certainly did not intend to betray it before the enemies he had been taught to despise as well as to detest. Therefore, in a very emphatic manner he delivered himself of the remark just quoted. Ephraim turned and looked at Lucius. The boy was standing in an easy attitude, a slight flush upon his cheeks, and a defiant light in his eyes. All trace of his recent emotion was gone; and as he stood firmly planted—his shoulders squared, his well-knit, youthful figure gracefully poised—his whole bearing formed such a contrast to that of the red-faced, swaggering bully whom he faced, that Ephraim could not repress a cry of admiration. The poor Grizzly had suffered a good deal in the last half-hour. The fright of Lucius in the balloon he could understand, for he had been thoroughly frightened himself; but the utter collapse of his hero was beyond him. Not only had he known Lucius heretofore as a sturdy, manly boy, but he had always set him upon a pinnacle above every one else in the world, and worshipped him as a superior being, endowed with every grace and virtue under the sun. Therefore, when mastering his own fears, he had boldly faced a terrible danger and overcome it by his presence of mind, the abject, grovelling cowardice of Lucius had come upon him with a painful shock. He had caught a glimpse of the feet of his idol, and, lo! they were of clay. But he covered them reverently up, humiliated rather than proud that the accident of opportunity should have lifted him so high, and loyally making all manner of excuses for his comrade’s conduct. All the same, he had felt very miserable over it; but now, when he heard the ringing scornful voice, and noted how fearlessly Lucius faced the colonel, all his pain fled, his doubts were swallowed up, and a great wave of joy flooded his honest heart. He had been right after all—his hero was his hero still, and gold from crown to heel.