Frank Merriwells Races | Page 8

big for a kid. Why, I can blow yer over with my breath."
"It is strong enough. But I don't go over so easy. Up with your hands if you are such a fighter! I'm coming for you!"
"All right! If ye're bound to have it, come on!"
The man put up his guard, and then Merriwell went at him, while Grody gasped for breath, thinking the college lad could be no match for the young ruffian.
There were a few swift passes, and then Frank went under the fellow's guard and gave him a terrific uppercut on the chin. That was a staggerer, and the boy followed it up while the man was dazed.
Punk!--biff!--two blows, one on the body and the other fairly in the eye.
The second blow nearly knocked the man down, and it made him as fierce as a famished tiger. Snarling like an enraged beast, he tried to close in on the lively lad.
"Oh, let me get hold of you!" he grated. "I'll crush the life out of ye!"
Frank avoided the rush by stepping aside, and gave the fellow another body blow as he passed.
Body blows, however, were not as effective as they should have been, on account of the fellow's clothing, and Merriwell quickly decided to waste no more energy in that manner.
The man turned, and went for Frank again. This time the boy did not try to get out of the way, but he met his antagonist squarely, and gave him a heavy one in the other eye.
"That ought to make them mates," said Frank, with a laugh. "You won't know yourself when you look in the glass to-morrow morning. Perhaps it'll teach you better than to try any of your rackets on a boy. You can't always tell what you are getting up against."
The man's teeth could be heard grinding together. He was so furious that he quite lost his head. Then Frank sailed in to finish the affair as soon as possible.
Grody held his breath, nearly bursting with astonishment and admiration.
"Oh, say!" he chuckled. "I never saw a youngster what were that fellow's match! He's hot stuff!"
The hostler could scarcely believe it possible that Merriwell was giving the scoundrel a first-class whipping, but this became more and more evident with each passing moment.
In fact, Frank was struck just once during the entire encounter, and that was a glancing blow on the forehead, which he scarcely noticed. He thumped the rascal to his heart's satisfaction, and then knocked him flat with a round-arm swing that landed on the jaw.
The ruffian lay on the floor and groaned. When he started to get up Merriwell exclaimed:
"There, I think that will do you for to-night! When you want some more of the same just come fooling around my horse!"
He caught the man by the shoulders, yanked him to his feet, ran him to the door, and booted him out of the stable.
Having done this, Frank turned back and coolly put on his coat.
"There, Grody," he said, "I feel better. I think it is possible I have given that rascal a lesson he will not forget in a hurry."
The hostler stared, and then he cried:
"Mr. Merriwell, sir, you are a wonder! If as how you were to go inter ther ring you'd make some of the duffers hustle. That were the neatest job what I ever see!"
"It was not so much of a trick," declared Frank. "The fellow is strong, I'll warrant, but he is too heavy on his feet and too slow in his movements. There are scores of fellows in college who can polish him off."
"I will allow I never knowed you college chaps were able to fight like that before. I knowed some of you were for fighting among yourselves all right, but I didn't think you could go up against a reg'ler scrapper."
"It's a part of the education at Yale," smiled Frank; "and I've found it comes in handy occasionally. The man who can't fight his way through this world in one manner or another gets walked over by chaps who are not his equal in any other way. I do not believe a man should fight only at the proper time, but when he has to fight, I hold that he should be able to do a good turn at it."
"Well, you can do your turn all right, sir."
"Now, Grody, Nemo must receive proper attention. I am sure that fellow did something to make the horse lame. What he did I can't tell. I don't see how he did it without getting his brains kicked out."
Grody hesitated, and then he said:
"Mr. Merriwell, sir, I wants to tell ye something."
"All right, Grody, go on."
"I didn't tell all what happened in the stall to-day when that bloke were here."
"Oh, you didn't?"
"No, sir. What called my attention to the