"The risk is your own," responded the yearling, calmly. "You must not mind if the cla.s.s resents your view of the case."
There was a few moments" silence after that, during which the Parson racked his head to think what to say next.
"You refuse, then, to fight Mr. Mallory?" he inquired at last.
"Absolutely!" responded the other. "Absolutely, until the cla.s.s so directs."
Then the Parson drew a long breath, and prepared for the culminating stroke.
"What I say next, Mr. Williams," said he, "you will understand is said with all possible politeness and good feeling, but it must be said. Mr.
Mallory has been insulted by some cadets as a coward. He must free himself from the suspicion. Mr. Williams, if a plebe should strike an older cadet, would that make a fight necessary?"
"Most certainly," said Williams, flushing.
"Well, now, suppose he simply threatened to do so," continued Stanard.
"Would that be cause enough?"
"It might."
"Well, then, Mr. Williams, Mr. Mallory desires me with all politeness to beg permission to threaten to strike you."
"I see," said the other, smiling at the solemn air with which the lank stranger made this extraordinary request. "I see. I have no objection to his so doing."
"Thank you," said Stanard. "A fight is now necessary, I believe?"
"Er--yes," said Williams. "I believe it is." The fact of the matter was that he saw that Mark was in a position to force a fight if he chose, and the yearling was by no means reluctant, anyhow.
"I thank you for your courtesy," he continued, bowing Stanard out of the tent. "Tell Mr. Mallory that I shall send my second to see him this evening. Good-day."
And Stanard bowed and strode away with joy in his very stride.
"We have met the enemy," was his report to Mark. "We have met the enemy, and there"s going to be a fight!"
CHAPTER XIII.
PREPARATIONS FOR THE BATTLE.
It does not take long for news of so exciting a matter as a really important fight to spread among the corps. No sooner did the Parson leave camp than cadets began to stroll in to find out why he had come, and, learning, they hurried off to discuss the news with their own tentmates. So it happened that by the time the cadets marched down to mess hall to supper every man in the battalion knew that Mark Mallory, the B. J. beast, had succeeded in getting another chance at "Billy"
Williams. The plebes knew of it, too. When their rather ragged and scattered company fell in behind the corps at barracks, they were all talking about it, at least when the file closers weren"t near. At supper n.o.body talked of anything else, and everybody in the room was eying Mark and his stalwart opponent and speculating as to what the chances would be.
"Billy"ll do him!" vowed the yearlings. "There"s n.o.body in the cla.s.s that stands more chance."
And the plebes feared it would be that way, too, and yet there were a few at the tables discussing the matter in whispers, venturesome enough to say that perhaps maybe their cla.s.smate might win and to wonder what on earth would happen to him if he did.
"It"ll mean a revelation if he does!" they cried. "Perhaps it"ll even stop hazing."
The mood of the irate little corporal, who had vowed not an hour before that Mallory should not have another chance, may well be imagined.
"I tell you, "tis a shame!" he vowed to Williams. "A shame! I don"t see why in thunder you didn"t hold out."
"It"s not my fault, Jasper," responded the other, smiling good naturedly. "If you"ll think a while, you"ll see he was in a position to force a fight at any time he chose. If I refused to "allow him to threaten to hit me," as he put it, he could have threatened anyway, and then if that didn"t do any good, he"d have actually to hit me, and there you would have been. It"s a great deal better this way."
"Yes!" growled Jasper. "That sounds all very well. But look where it puts me, by George! You"ll have to get somebody else to arrange it. I won"t. I went as a committee and told him he"d not get another chance, and I tell you now I"ll not go take it back for anybody, and with that B. J. plebe especially."
"Perhaps he won"t be so very B. J. after the fight," responded the other, smiling. "I don"t know, of course, but I shall do my best."
"If you don"t," said the other, looking serious, "by jingo! we"ll be in a thundering fix. There"s n.o.body in the cla.s.s can beat you, and that plebe"ll have a walkover."
This last sentiment of Jasper"s was the sentiment of the whole yearling cla.s.s, and the cla.s.s was in a state of uncertainty in consequence. Texas was known to have whipped four cadets in one morning, and all of them good men, too; then there was a rumor out that Mark and Texas had had a quarrel and that the latter had gone to the hospital some five minutes later. The two facts put together were enough to make the most confident do some thinking.
It is difficult for one who has never been to West Point to appreciate what this state of affairs meant--because it is hard for him to appreciate the relation which exists between the plebe and the rest of the corps. From the moment of the former"s arrival as an alarmed and trembling candidate, it is the especial business of every cadet to teach him that he is the most utterly, entirely and absolutely insignificant individual upon the face of the universe. He is shouted at and ordered, bullied, badgered, tormented, pulled and hauled, drilled and laughed at until he is reduced to the state of mind of a rabbit. If he is "B. J." about it, he is bullied the more; if he shows fight, he has all he wants, and is made meeker still. The result of it all is that he learns to do just as anybody else commands him, and
Never dares to sneeze unless He"s asked you if he might.
All of which is fun for the yearling.
Now, here was Mark Mallory--to say nothing of Texas--who had come up to the Point with an absurd notion of his own dignity, who had outwitted the yearlings at every turn, been sent to Coventry--and didn"t care a hang, and now was on the point of trying to "lick" the finest all-around athlete in the whole third cla.s.s. It was enough to make the corps tremble--the yearlings, at any rate. The first cla.s.s usually feels too dignified to meddle with such things.
Billy Williams" amba.s.sador put in an appearance on the following Sunday morning, and, to Mark"s disgust, he proved to be none other than his old enemy, Bull Harris--sent, by the way, not because Williams so chose, but because Bull himself had asked to be sent.
"Mr. Williams," said he, "says he"ll give you another chance to run away."
Mark bowed politely, determined that Harris should get as little chance for insult as possible.
"He"ll fight you to-morrow--Fort Clinton, at four, and if you don"t come, by thunder! he"ll find out why."
Mark"s face grew white, but he only bowed again, and swallowed it. And just then came an unexpected interruption.
"Mr. Mallory, as the challenged party, has the right to name the time."
The voice was loud and clear, and seemed to have authority; Harris turned and confronted Cadet First Captain Fischer, in all his glory of chevrons and sword. Now, the first captain is lord of West Point--and Harris didn"t dare to say a word, though he was boiling within.
"And, moreover," continued the imposing young officer, angrily, "you should remember that you came, Mr. Harris, as a gentleman and not as a combatant. Mr. Mallory, what is your wish?"
"The time suits me," said Mark, quietly. "Good-day, Mr. Harris."
And Harris left in a very unpleasant mood indeed; he had meant to have no end of amus.e.m.e.nt at the expense of Mark"s feelings.
"You"ve a hard row to hoe," said the cadet officer to Mark, "and a hard man to beat. And you were foolish to get into it, but, all the same, I"ll see that you have fair play."
"And that," exclaimed Texas to Mark, as he watched the tall, erect figure of the cadet vanish through the sally port. "That is the first decent word I"ve heard from a cadet since I"ve been here. Bully for Fischer!"
"It"s probable," said Mark, "that he knows Harris as well as we. And now, old fellow," he added, "we"ve got nothing to do but pa.s.s time, and wait--and wait for to-morrow morning!"
Mark slept soundly that night in spite of the excitement. It was Texas who was restless, for Texas had promised to act as alarm clock, and, realizing that not to be on time again would be a calamity indeed, he was up half a dozen times to gaze out of the window toward the eastern sky, watching for the first signs of morning.