Goaded on by his impatient cla.s.smates, Williams did "sail in," the very next round. Mark led him a dance, from corner to corner, dodging, ducking and twisting, the yearling, thinking the victory his, pressing closer and closer and aiming blow after blow.
"Watch out, Billy, watch out," muttered the vigilant Fischer to himself, as he caught the gleam in Mark"s eye.
Just then Williams paused, actually exhausted; Mark saw his chest heaving, and, a still surer sign, his lip trembling.
"Now, then!" whispered the Parson at his back, and Mark sprang forward.
The yearling dodged, Mark followed rapidly. There was a moment of vicious striking, and then the cadets gasped to see Williams give way.
It was only an inch, but it told the story--Williams was tired. Fischer gazed at his watch and saw that there was yet half a minute, and at the same moment he heard a resounding thump. Mark had planted a heavy blow upon his opponent"s chest, he followed almost instantly with another, and the yearlings groaned.
Williams rallied, and made a desperate fight for his life, but at the close of that round he was what a professional reporter would have termed "groggy." He came up weakly at the call.
"Don"t be afraid of hitting him," the Parson had said, afraid that Mark"s kind-heartedness would incline him to mercy. "There"s too much at stake. Win, and win in a hurry"--the Parson forgot to be cla.s.sical when he was excited.
Obedient to command, Mark set out, though it was evident to him that he had the fight. While Texas muttered and pranced about for joy, Mark dealt his opponent another blow which made him stagger; he caught himself upon one knee, and Mark stepped back and waited for him to rise.
And then suddenly a pair of strong arms were flung about the plebe"s waist and he felt himself shoved hurriedly along; at the same moment a voice shouted in his ear:
"Run, plebe, run for your life!"
Mark glanced about him in dimly-conscious amazement. He saw that the ring had melted into a number of cadets, skurrying away in every direction at the top of their speed. He heard the words, "a tac! a tac!"
and knew the fight had been discovered by an army officer.
A figure dashed up behind Mark and caught him by the arm. It was Fischer.
"Run for your life! Get in barracks!" he cried.
And with that he vanished, and Mark, obeying, rushed across the cavalry plain and was soon lying breathless and exhausted in his room, where the wildly-jubilant Texas joined him a moment later, just as reveille was sounded.
"Victory! Victory!" he shouted. "Wow!"
And by breakfast time that morning every cadet in the corps was discussing the fight. And Mark was the hero of the whole plebe cla.s.s.
CHAPTER XV.
TWO PLEBES IN HOSPITAL.
"Say, tell me, did you do him?"
The speaker was a lad with brown, curly hair and a laughing, merry face, at present, however, half covered with a swathing of bandages. He was standing on the steps of the hospital building at West Point, and regarding with anxiety another lad of about the same age, but taller and more st.u.r.dily built.
"I don"t know that I did him," responded Mark--for the one addressed was he--"I don"t know that I can say I did him, but I believe I would have if the fight hadn"t been interrupted."
"Bully, b"gee!" cried the other, excitedly slapping his knee and wincing with pain afterward. "Gimme your hand! I"m proud of you, b"gee! My name"s Alan Dewey, at your service."
Mark took the proffered hand, smiling at the stranger"s joy.
"My success seems to cause you considerable pleasure," he said.
"Yes, b"gee!" exclaimed Dewey, "it does! And to every true and loyal plebe in the academy. You"ve brought honor to the name of plebe by licking the biggest yearling in the place, b"gee, and that means the end of hazing."
"I"m not so sure of that," said Mark.
"I am," returned the other. "But say, tell me something about the fight.
I wanted to come, only I was shut up in hospital. Did Williams put up a good one?"
"Splendid," said Mark.
"He ought to. They say he"s champion of his cla.s.s, and an all-round athlete. But you look as if you could fight some yourself."
"He almost had me beaten once," said Mark. "I thought I was a goner."
"Say, but you"re a s.p.u.n.ky chap!" remarked Dewey, eying Mark with an admiring expression. "I don"t think there"s ever been a plebe dared to do half what you"ve done. The whole cla.s.s is talking about you."
"Is that so?" inquired Mark, laughing. "I didn"t mean to do anything reckless."
"What"s the difference," laughed the other, "when you can lick "em all, b"gee? I wish I could do it," he added, rather more solemnly. "Then, perhaps, maybe I wouldn"t be the physical wreck that I am."
"You been fighting, too?" inquired Mark, laughing.
"Betcher life, b"gee!" responded the other, emphatically. "Only I wasn"t as clever at it as you."
"Tell me about it," said Mark, with interest.
"It happened last Sat.u.r.day afternoon, and I"ve been in hospital ever since, b"gee. Some of the cadets caught me taking a walk up somewhere near what they call "Crow"s Nest." And so they set out to have some fun.
Told me to climb a tree, in the first place. I looked at the tree, and, b"gee, there wasn"t a limb for thirty feet, and the limbs there were rotten. There was one of "em, a big, burly fellow with short hair and a scar on his cheek----"
"Bull Harris!" cried Mark.
"Yes," said Dewey, "that"s what they called him--"Bull.""
"Did you fight with him?"
"Betcher life, b"gee! He tried to make me climb that tree, and, b"gee, says I, "I won"t, b"gee!" Then I lammed him one in the eye----"
"Bully!" cried Mark, and then he added, "b"gee!" by way of company. "Did he beat you?"
"Betcher life," cried the other. "That is, the six of "em did."
"You don"t mean to say the crowd attacked you?"
"That"s what I said."
"Well, sir!" exclaimed Mark, "the more I hear of that Bull Harris the bigger coward I find him. It"s comforting to know that all the cadets aren"t that way."
"Very comforting!" responded the other, feeling of the bandage on his swollen jaw. "Very comforting! Reminds me of a story I heard once, b"gee, of a man who got a thousand dollars" comfort from a railroad for having his head cut off."