"What fellow?" asked Bailey.
"Any fellow you please," replied Richard, with a knowing smile.
"I didn"t see any fellow chase you," added Bailey, innocently.
"Can"t you see through a millstone when there is a hole in it?"
"Of course I can."
"Don"t you see what I mean?"
"No, I don"t."
"If Gault asks me how I hurt my face, I will tell him a fellow was chasing me, and I tumbled down. Of course all the rest of you saw it."
"But I don"t see it," persisted Bailey.
"Don"t you, indeed! Then I think you ought to have a pair of leather spectacles."
"O, I know what you mean, but I don"t believe in lying about it."
"Ah, then you are a military saint--are you?" said Richard, with a sneer.
"All but the saint," laughed Bailey. "I don"t think there is any use in lying about it."
"Then I suppose you think it was very wicked of me to fight with Nevers."
"No, I don"t," answered Bailey, promptly and decidedly. "Nevers is a bully, and he insulted you. My father always told me never to take an insult, but he would thrash me for telling a lie."
"Well, Bailey, I believe you are right. I think it is mean to tell a lie; but how shall I manage it?"
"Face the music. A fellow who can stand such a pounding as you have had, wouldn"t mind being punished."
"I don"t like to be punished."
"I don"t know as the colonel would punish you. If a fellow gets up a fight, he has to take it; but if he only defends himself, he says he does no more than his duty."
"Well, who got up this fight?"
"That"s the point. Nevers insulted you, and you pitched into him. I don"t know which is most to blame."
"We will leave it to the powers that be, and not bother our heads about the question. I won"t lie about it, any how."
By the time this point was settled the boys had reached the school room. Richard applied himself with zeal and patience to the labors of the afternoon, determined to do his whole duty. When called out to recite, Mr. Gault noticed the swelling upon his face, and at recess asked him what had caused it.
"It was done in a little affair out in the grove sir," replied Richard.
"What kind of an affair?"
"Nevers and I had a little set-to," said Richard.
"Rather rough play, I should think," added Mr. Gault, as he struck the bell for the work to be resumed.
Richard congratulated himself that he had escaped, and, as he thought, without telling a lie. He told none with his lips, but his manner was such as to a.s.sure the teacher that the affair in the grove had been nothing but friendly sport. Deception, or wilfully misleading another, for the accomplishment of a purpose, is, in our opinion, just as culpable a falsehood as gaining the same end by a lie expressed in words. But Richard had not come up to this standard.
At the close of the school session, Richard hastened to the grove, as did all the boys who were in the secret of the fight. Nevers was on the ground soon after him, and the arrangements for the fight were hastily completed. A line of scouts reaching from the parade ground to the grove was stationed at convenient distances to give warning of the approach of any of the teachers. The ring was formed, and Richard coolly divested himself of all superfluous clothing, and prepared with the utmost care for the desperate encounter.
Nevers was ready sooner than Richard, for he was not so precise in the arrangement of his garments. As he took his place in the ring, though he stood strong and defiant, there was a kind of nervousness in his manner, which might have been detected by a keen observer.
"Come, Grant, we shall not get to work to-day, if you don"t hurry up,"
said Nevers, his lip curling into a sneer.
But it was the bully in him that spoke. He had a reputation to sustain, and he was saying and doing all he could to ward off any imputation upon his courage.
"In one moment, Nevers," added Richard.
"You are as particular as though you were going to a ball," continued Nevers.
"I suppose you are too much of a man to bawl, whatever happens; so there won"t be any," replied Richard.
"We shall have the colonel and all the teachers down upon us, if you don"t get fixed soon."
"I"m all ready," said Richard, throwing himself into the att.i.tude of the pugilist.
"Come on, then."
Richard edged up to his antagonist, and after considerable sparring, the fight commenced in good earnest. Nevers was too much excited to use all his strength to the best advantage, for the first hit he received seemed to make him angry. In the first round Richard had the advantage.
In the second, Nevers knocked him down; but he was not at all disconcerted. The heavy blows he received did not appear to disturb his equanimity, while his opponent worked himself up into a towering pa.s.sion. The fight went on for ten minutes with varying results. At one time all the spectators were sure that Nevers would win, and at another they were equally sure that Grant would be the victor.
The anger of Nevers exhausted him more than his tremendous efforts.
Both parties had been terribly punished, but Richard was still cool and self-possessed. At last Nevers became desperate, and rushed upon his foe, determined at one effort to crush him. He was furious, and abandoned all the science he had brought to his aid, and apparently depended entirely upon brute force. The consequence was, that he laid himself open to his cool rival, and Richard rained a series of tremendous blows upon his head, which carried him under. He fell heavily upon the ground, and lay there incapable of moving.
Richard, though his nose was bleeding, and he could not see out of one eye, seated himself on the ground for a moment, till he had recovered his breath, and then took his place in the ring.
"Time!" cried the friends of Richard.
But Nevers could not "come to time." He raised himself partly up, but sank back again, incapable of making the effort to rise.
"Come on!" said Richard, as he sparred a little with his fists to a.s.sure the spectators that he was "game" to the last.
Nevers made no reply, and Richard was declared the victor by his own friends, and the proposition was admitted by those of his prostrate antagonist.
"I am satisfied," added Richard, as he picked up his clothes, and made his way down to the brook, attended by an admiring crowd.
When Nevers recovered his breath, he rose from the ground, and his companions helped him down to the water, where he was bathed by his sympathizing friends. Both of the combatants were severely though not seriously injured.
"What"s to be done now, fellows?" asked Richard, when all that cold water could do for him had been done. "I suppose we are all in a bad sc.r.a.pe."
"That"s so," replied several. "We will stand by you, Grant, as well as we can."