“That’s what he calls it,” laughed Loring. “We’re doing an eighth of a mile now twice a day; a two-twenty-yard dash, you know! You see, they won’t let me use my legs myself, so Wattles does it for me. He massages the pesky things and works all the joints――as carefully as if they were made of glass――and has a jolly good time of it. Wattles is really a brick. He had to put in a week or more at the hospital and take a course of instruction before he could get the job, and I believe he honestly thinks now that he’s an authority on bone diseases. He’s a conscientious chap, too, and if the house caught on fire while he was ‘exercising’ me I’ll bet he wouldn’t get out until I’d had my full thirty minutes!” “But couldn’t you use crutches?” asked Tom. “Yes, but they won’t let me do it. Too much chance of an accident, they say. I’m not even allowed to cross my legs! Not that I’m at all sure I could do it, for it’s so long since I tried that I honestly believe I’ve forgotten how.” He turned to smile at Clif. “That was a pretty close call the other day, you know. I dare say that if that car had dumped me out of the chair Wattles would have had to sweep my legs up into a dustpan!” “What was that?” demanded Tom. “I didn’t hear about it.” “Didn’t Clif tell you?” asked Loring. Then he laughed. “Sorry, Clif. I thought he knew.” “He does know. That is, I told him all he needed to know,” muttered Clif. “You never did! Whatever it is, you didn’t say a word about it.” “Didn’t I tell you about meeting Loring in the village last Sunday? Well, then!” “Sure, but you didn’t say anything about Loring being dumped out of his chair!” “He wasn’t dumped out of his chair. All that happened――” “Better let me tell it,” said Loring. “Go ahead,” answered Clif. “There’s nothing to tell, anyway. You were coming across the street――” “Shut up!” Tom commanded sternly. “No one wants to hear from you. Go ahead, Loring.” So Loring went ahead and gave a perfectly truthful and not at all sensational account of the affair, and Tom viewed Clif accusingly during the narrative and, when it was finished, exclaimed disgustedly: “Of all the tight mouthed, secretive vipers! Loring, I’ve watched over that guy ever since he came here. I was the first one to befriend him. Without me, he――he wouldn’t be anywhere to-day. And look at the way he repays me! Goes out and makes a silly hero of himself saving people from being trampled underfoot by rampageous automobiles and never says a word about it! And he calls that friendship, I suppose!” “You make me tired, both of you,” grumbled Clif. “There wasn’t much danger, anyway, and all I did was give a yank to the chair. The fellow in the car would have missed him even if I hadn’t touched it. And if you go and tell this to any one else, Tom, I’ll make you wish you hadn’t!” “Oh, shut up,” said Tom good-naturedly. “You might have known I wouldn’t spill it, Clif. Next time you come right home, like a good little boy, and tell daddy all about it.”