So meek and mild was the tone of this reply that the prefect of Holbeck's House might merely have been denying that he had been guilty of making a pun. Already he was edging furtively away, wishing, no doubt, that there were acres of green fields between him and this hard-eyed Captain of Foxenby.
"In other words," said Dick, "you call me a liar!"
"Yes, yes, Harwood! Betting on a school match is bad enough--wagering against your own side is infinitely worse."
"I could prove them up to the hilt if necessary. But your shifty eyes are sufficient testimony for me. You can't look me straight in the face! You played your low-down game of bluff cunningly, Harwood, hunting magazine subscriptions for me, 'soft-soaping' my _Rag_, fooling me with your tongue in your cheek! And all the time (how clearly I see it now) you were scheming in secret to pull me down--to jockey me out of the Captaincy and set yourself up in my place."
"You're a liar!" cried Harwood, stung at last into open defiance by this keen home-thrust.
"Thanks," said Dick. "That's more sporting of you. Look out for your eye now!"
Out shot the Captain's fist, and down to the grass went Harwood, with the marks of Dick's knuckles on his cheek.
"Now, Harwood, lift yourself up and let's have it out once and for all. Don't stay sprawling there--that little tap can't have hurt you. What, aren't you going to fight? Come along, man!"
"I'm having no more, thanks," Harwood replied, in the tremulous voice of a craven. "Fighting's no sort of fun for me. I'm out of condition--you're as hard as nails."
"Well, of all the beastly funks--pooh, Harwood, what a first-class rotter you are! I wish I hadn't gone for you--it's a waste of powder and shot. Luckless Holbeck's to have a worm like you as a prefect! Get up and don't be scared. I wouldn't touch you again with a pole!"
Saved by this contemptuous promise from further violence, Luke rose groggily to his feet, making a great pretence of being badly shaken.
"Drop swinging the lead, Harwood, and listen to me a minute. The date of the re-played Final has been fixed. The game will be at Walsbridge as before. But you won't be there, Harwood. Neither will Doccan, nor any other of your gambling clique. You'll find some excuse for not going, all of you--understand?"