Bunny deliberately repeated his offensive act. Then he dodged, but not fast enough. Jud Jeffer's, his eyes ablaze with righteous indignation, sent the troublesome one to earth again. This time Bunny got up really full of fight. From the opposite side of the street two fine-looking young men of about eighteen had seen much of what had passed. "Let's go over and separate them, Hal," proposed the quieter looking of the pair. "If you like, Noll, though that young Hepburn rascal deserves about all that he seems likely to get." "Jud Jeffers is too decent a young fellow to be allowed to soil his hands on the Hepburn kid," objected Oliver Terry quietly. So he and Hal Overton hastened across the street. Bunny Hepburn was now showing a faint daub of crimson at the lower end of his nose. Bunny was the larger boy, but Jud by far the braver. "Here, better stop all of this," broke in Hal good-naturedly, reaching out and grabbing angry Bunny by the coat collar. Noll rested a rather friendly though detaining hand on Jud Jeffers's shoulder. "Lemme at him!" roared Bunny. "Yes! Let 'em finish it!" urged three or four of the younger boys. "What's it all about, anyway?" demanded Hal Overton. "That fellow insulted his country's uniform. It's as bad as insulting the Flag itself!" contended Jud hotly. "That's right," nodded Hal Overton grimly. "I think I saw the whole thing. You're right to be mad about it, Jud, but this young what-is-it is too mean for you to soil your hands on him. Now, see here, Hepburn--right about face for you!" Hal's grip on the boy's coat collar tightened as he swung Bunny about and headed him down the street. "Forward, quick time, march! And don't stop, either, Hepburn, unless you want to hear Jud pattering down the street after you." Hal's first shove sent Bunny darting along for a few feet. Bunny discreetly went down the street several yards before he halted and lurched into a doorway, from which he peered out with a still hostile look on his face. "Your view of the uniform, and of the old Flag, is all right, Jud, and I'm mighty glad to find that you have such views," Hal continued. "But you mustn't be too severe on a fellow like Bunny Hepburn. He simply can't rise above his surroundings, and you know what a miserable, egotistical, lying, slanderous fellow his father is. Bunny's father hates the country he lives in, and would set everybody to tearing down the government. That's the kind of a brainless anarchist Hepburn is, and you can't expect his dull-witted son to know any more than the father does. But you keep on, Jud, always respecting the soldier and his uniform, and the Flag that both stand behind."