“Dave can afford to be polite and good-natured,” thought Lester, as he went flying down the road.  “He is rejoicing over his success and my failure; but if he only knew it, this thing isn’t settled yet.  I’ll write to that man to-night, telling him, that the parties to whom he gave the contract can’t catch the birds, and then Bob and I will go to work and make it true.  If we don’t earn that money, nobody shall.  As for those stuck-up Gordons—­I’ll show them how I’ll get even with them.”

The spirited animal on which he was mounted made short work of the two miles that lay between Don’s home and Bob’s, and in a few minutes Lester dismounted in front of the wagon-shed, where his crony was waiting for him.

“I’ve had no luck at all,” said he, in reply to Bob’s inquiring look.  “I might as well have stayed at home.  Don says he can’t join a club of this kind, because, having got David the job of trapping the quails, he can’t go back on him.  He says he’s a poacher and pot-hunter himself; and what surprised me was, he did not seem to be at all ashamed of it.”

“Of course he wasn’t ashamed,” said Bob.  “He thinks that everything he and his pale-faced brother do is just right.  Did he say anything about what passed between Bert and myself at the post-office?”

“Not a word.”

“I was afraid he would,” said Bob, drawing a long breath of relief, “for he knows that you and I are friends.”

Yes, Don knew that, but there were two good reasons why he had not spoken to Lester about Bob’s threat of slapping Bert over.  In the first place, he was not aware that Bob had made any such threat.  Bert was one of the few boys we have met, who did not believe in telling everything he knew.  Do you know such a boy among your companions?  If you do, you know one whom nobody is afraid to trust.  Bert wanted to live in peace, and thought it a good plan to quell disturbances, instead of helping them along.  He knew that if he told his brother what had happened in the post-office, there would be a fight, the very first time Don and Bob met, and Bert didn’t believe in fighting.  But even if Don had known all about it, he would not have said anything to Lester.  He would have waited until he met Bob, and then he would have used some pretty strong arguments, and driven them home by the aid of his fist.  How much trouble might be avoided, if there were a few more boys like Bert Gordon in the world!

“I am not sorry I went down there,” continued Lester, “for I had the satisfaction of showing those conceited fellows that there are some boys in the settlement besides themselves who know a thing or two.  I read the constitution to them, and it would have made you laugh to see them open their eyes.  Bert was so astonished that he couldn’t say a word, and Don never took his gaze off my face while I was reading.  When I got through he asked me to read that clause with the Latin and Greek in it over again, so that he could copy the names in his note-book.  He’ll learn them by heart, and use them some time in conversation and so get the reputation of being a very smart and a very learned boy.  If he does it in your presence, I want you to let folks know that he is showing off on the strength of my brains.  I don’t suppose the ignoramus ever knew before——­”