Free Danny Orlis Goes to School by Bernard Palmer Page B

Only just keep those tracts to yourself, Dynamite Dan. We'll make a sensible guy out of you yet."

Chapter Nineteen
    TEMPTATION RESISTED
    D ANNY Orlis studied his General Science as hard as he could that night, but a guy couldn't study everything that they had covered for the whole year in one night. He knew he would never be able to remember things they had taken up months before.
    "I just don't know what to do, Larry," he confided to his cousin on his way to school. "I just know that I'm going to flunk this test."
    "You might be able to do like I do," Larry said slyly. "Some of the guys who sit closer to me are good in General Science, and they don't always cover their papers as well as they should. I don't have any trouble in getting a passing grade on the tests."
    Danny looked at him quickly. Larry had never suggested anything to him like that before. He had always sneaked around with the dishonest things he did. But here he was suggesting that Danny cheat. The young woodsman turned quickly away.
    Before Danny had agreed to lie for him, Larry had felt that he was different, that he would never stoop to such a thing as cheating. Now he knew that his cousin from Angle Inlet was just the same as he was. Danny gulped hard. What had happened to his testimony in the past few days?
    As the General Science class gathered at ten for the all-important test, Steve passed by Danny's desk and winked significantly. The young woodsman managed a weak little grin.
    "I have no need to tell you what this test means to some of you," Mr. Sterling, the teacher, began, looking straight at Danny. "We're going to see just how much General Science you have absorbed in the past few months."
    Back home at the Angle, Danny had never been tempted to copy from anyone. The teacher there had even left the room during the tests if she felt like it because she knew she didn't have a pupil who would cheat to get a better grade. But then, back at the Angle he had never promised to lie, either.
    Steve turned a little in his seat, so that Danny could have a full view of his paper. He was working on the questions rapidly. Danny ran his fingers through his hair nervously and set to work. Once before, not so long ago, he had been tempted to copy in an English quiz, but that time he had been saved by the bell. This time there wasn't anything to save him. It was all up to him.
    The questions were difficult, much harder than he had ever thought they would be. The first two he couldn't answer at all. He glanced up at Steve. There just a few short feet away were all the answers. All he would have to do was look over toward Steve, and his grade problems would be over.
    "O God," Danny prayed desperately. "I don't want to cheat. Help me not to look! Regardless of what kind of a grade I get, help me not to look!"
    Danny went to work again, scarcely lifting his gaze from his paper. It was strange how hard it was to keep from looking toward Steve's paper. The more determined he was not to, the more his eyes seemed to be drawn in that direction. Once or twice as he got a new sheet of paper or reached for an eraser, he got a glimpse of Steve. The lanky science wizard kept turning his head ever so slightly to see whether Danny was taking advantage of his chances to copy. There was a bewildered, half-angry look on Steve's face.
    The farther Danny got into the questions, the easier they seemed to get, and he began to feel a little better about his grade. If only he could have answered something for the first two questions, he might have a good chance of getting by.
    When the bell rang ending the period, he sighed deeply and folded his paper.
    As he went out of school that afternoon, Eric Tanner, who was just ahead of him, waited for a moment.
    "I hear you're having some trouble with your grades," Eric said with a friendliness that astonished the young woodsman.
    "I guess I am," Danny admitted.
    "I'm having trouble with my girl," Eric went on, "and if I had my choice, I'd take