of steps to their room, they were startled to hear a banging noise above them. They looked up, and saw Johnnie Jones, one of the fattest little chaps in the school, start to roll down. He had stumbled at the top step, and had fallen head over heels.
"Look out!" cried Bob.
"Hold fast!" advised Sammy.
"Catch him!" called Frank, and this was the best advice of all. "Get together," went on Frank to his chums, "and we'll hold him when he gets here."
They were now about half-way up the flight of steps, and, forming themselves into a solid body, as though about to stop a rush in a football game, they braced themselves to catch fat Johnnie.
With a bump and a bounce he landed against them, and in another moment Frank had set the little fellow on his feet again.
"There you are, Johnnie!" said Frank, while Sammy and Bob brushed the dust from his clothes. "You aren't hurt; are you?"
Johnnie gasped once or twice, opened his mouth as though to howl, and then, thinking better of it, closed his lips again.
"No, I'm not hurt!" he said bravely.
"He's too fat to get hurt!" laughed Bob. "You're like a rubber ball; aren't you, Johnnie?"
"I—I guess so," answered the little fellow, "but I don't want to bounce down stairs again!"
The three chums laughed at him as he started up the stairs once more, and they kept close behind him, but he did not fall again.
Into their classroom went Bob, Sammy and Frank. Other boys and girls were already there, and more came in. Miss
