as big again as I am, and-----"

"The odds wouldn't be as bad as you're proposing to take out of
this poor little freshman with the crippled hand," insisted Thompson.
"So get ready to meet me. I'll allow one of my hands to be tied,
if you want."

Yet even this proposition couldn't be made alluring to Fred Ripley.
He knew Thompson's mettle and strength too well for that.

Dan Dalzell, another freshman, had been standing back, keeping
quiet as long as he could.

"See here," proposed Dan, stepping forward, "isn't a freshman
allowed to say something when his friend is insulted?"

"Go ahead," nodded Thompson, who knew Dan to be one of young Prescott's
close friends.

"Dick isn't in shape to fight, and I know it," continued Dan
Dalzell, hotly. "But Ripley wants something easy, like a
freshman, so he can have me!"

"And me," cried Tom Reade, also leaping forward.

"He can have one with me, too," offered Harry Hazelton.

"Same here," added Greg Holmes and Dave Darrin.

All five of the speakers were freshmen, and close chums of Dick