Meanwhile, Fred Ripley was wandering about Gridley, in a state of abject, hopeless cowardice.

CHAPTER XXI

DICK IS GENEROUS BECAUSE IT’S NATURAL

“Say, will you look at Rip?”

No wonder Harry Hazelton exploded with wonder as he turned to Dan Dalzell and Greg Holmes.

In this warmer weather, the young men loitered in the school yard until the first bell.

These three members of Dick & Co. were standing near the gateway when Fred Ripley turned the nearest corner and came on nervously, hurriedly, a hang-dog look in his face.

What had caught Harry Hazelton’s eye, and now made his comrades stare, was the new suit that Fred wore.  Gone was all that young man’s former elegance of attire.  His stern father had just left the boy, after having taken him to a clothing store where Fred was tricked out in a coarse, ready-made suit that had cost just seven dollars and a half.  A more manly boy would have made a better appearance in such clothes, but it was past Fred Ripley.  And he was miserably conscious of the cheap-looking derby that rested on his head.  Even his shoes were new and coarse.

Ripley hurried by the chums, and across the yard, to be met at the door by Purcell, who stared at him in candid astonishment.

“Oh, say, Rip!” demanded Purcell.  “What’s the bet?”

“Shut up!” retorted Ripley, passing quickly inside.

“Fine manners,” grinned Purcell to a girl who had also paused, impelled by excusable curiosity.

Dick, when he came along, heard the news from Hazelton and the others.

“What can be the cause of it all?” asked Tom Reade, wonderingly.

“Oh, some row with his father,” decided Dick slowly.  “When I was up on Main Street I saw them both going into Marsh’s clothing store.”

“I asked poor old Rip what the bet was,” chuckled Purcell as he joined the group.

“Say, if you want to have fun at recess,” proposed Dan Dalzell, “let’s about twenty of us, one after the other, go up and ask Rip what the bet is, and how long it’s for?”

“Say,” retorted Dick sternly, eyeing hapless Dan, “I believe, if you got into a fight and knocked a fellow down, you’d jump on him and keep hammering him.”

“Not much I wouldn’t, old safety-valve,” retorted Dan, reddening.  “But I see that you’re right, Dick.  Rip has never been any friend of ours, and to jump him now, when he’s evidently down at home, would be too mean for the principles of Dick & Co.”

“I’d rather give the poor fellow a helping hand up, if we could,” pursued young Prescott musingly, “Purcell, do you think there’d be any use in trying that sort of thing?”

“Why, I don’t know,” replied Captain Purcell, easy going and good hearted.  “Barring a few snobbish airs, I always used to like Rip well enough.  He was always pretty proud, but pride, in itself, is no bar to being a decent fellow.  The only fellow who comes to harm with pride is the fellow who gets proud before he has done anything to be proud of.  At least, that’s the way it always hit me.”