“Good-by!” snarled Pike, rising. “You can keep your face closed about this, anyway!”
The voice was so hard and commanding that Don Pike stopped.
“I’m a fool! Don’t fancy for a minute that I would mention such a matter. You’ve stood by me, even though you’re not a freshman, and I don’t forget it. Some other time I’ll be likely to strike at Dick Starbright. Just now I feel a little queer about that matter, and I can’t. That’s the truth of it.”
“Just remember that. And if you’ve any bets to lay, put them on the freshmen.”
“If they win, Starbright will get most of the glory! It doesn’t matter to me, though. I’m not trying to beat him in the race for the freshmen leadership. You are.”
Dade Morgan sat for a long time in silence after Donald Pike’s departure. Finally he roused himself.
“I wish the fellow hadn’t come to me with that!” he thought, rising. “Either that, or I wish that it hadn’t been necessary for Starbright to come to my help yesterday afternoon. I wonder what Rosalind thinks about it? I fancied she was somewhat cool to me after it. No doubt he is her hero now, and I’m nothing. Well, if he wants her again, he can have her!”
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The crisp air that blew across the famous Yale quadrangle was filled with flying snowballs. The freshmen, under the leadership of Dade Morgan, were battling with the sophomores, under the command of Jack Ready.
At one end of the quadrangle a snow-fort had been built. It was held by the freshmen, and the sophomores were allowed twenty minutes in which to take it.
The plan of the battle, of Merriwell’s devising, contemplated after that the rebuilding of the fort and a change of sides, permitting the sophomores to hold the fort and the freshmen to become the assaulting party.
Behind the snowy walls of the fort and out in the open where the sophomores were collected were great piles of snowballs, the artillery, grape-and-cannister of the contending forces. The snow was in the best of condition for the purpose, balling readily under pressure into light yet compact missiles.
Ready had directed his men to begin with a fierce “rifle-fire” of snowballs, and then charge the fort before the freshmen could recover from the hail of balls; and the sophomores were doing their best to follow his instructions.