THE ADVENTURES OF FRANK & DICK MERRIWELL: 20+ Crime & Mystery Classics (Illustrated) - Burt L. Standish

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anything till I took hold and steadied you. You got angry and lost your head at baseball, football, any old thing."

      "That's right."

      "Now, with me in the box, you are a wonder behind the bat."

      Hodge attempted to say that Merry was making it pretty steep, but Frank, both hands on the shoulders of his chum, said:

      "You are a wonder. Everybody acknowledges it, and I know it. You are the best man I ever tossed a ball to."

      Bart's pleasure showed in his face, but now he could not say a word.

      "That is because I steady you-I help you keep your head. You do not fly off the handle. Am I right?"

      "You are."

      "Very well. Now I am going to teach you how to get at the weak point of this man Badger, and then I am going into the fight with you. I am going to be your second. I am going to hold you steady every moment of the time with my influence. I am going to keep you cool, and you are going to give Buck Badger the worst licking he ever received. That's the way we'll put an end to this foolishness of his."

      Hodge actually laughed!

      "Merriwell," he cried, "I know you'll do it!"

      "You'll do it, Hodge."

      "No; it will be you. I feel confident now. I shall feel you there close at hand all the time, and your will power will control me. I shall knock Buck Badger out!"

      "That's the way I want you to feel. Never feel any other way for an instant, no matter how hard he may give it to you. Keep your confidence, but do not let over-confidence spoil you. He's a bulldog. You know that."

      Hodge was tingling all over. The thought that he was to whip the boasting insolent Westerner filled him with savage joy.

      "When will you begin giving me lessons?" he asked.

      "As soon as possible."

      Bart ran to the wall and ripped down a set of boxing gloves.

      "Now!" he shouted.

      Frank shrugged his shoulders.

      "All light," he smiled; "but only a little. I'll show you a blow I want you to practice."

      They put on the gloves, sparred a moment, and then Merry bit Bart a peculiar swinging blow that landed on the neck just over the jugular vein: He did not strike hard, but the blow made Bart dizzy.

      "Just note how I did that," instructed Merry. Then he went through all the motions again, opening Bart's guard with a feint, and showing how he got that queer swing in to land as it did.

      "Now," said Frank, "I've found that Badger always opens up on that feint. All the same, you must not try it too often, but you must make it count when you put it in. The first one may set him giddy and cause him to drop his guard. Then you can put him out with one right on the point of the jaw. That's all."

      He took off the gloves, and Bart did the same. Then Hodge prepared to leave.

      "We'll end it, Merry," said the dark-faced lad, confidently. "I see the finish of Badger."

      "Confound such business!" muttered Frank, when Bart was gone.

      CHAPTER VII.

       CAMPUS GOSSIP.

       Table of Contents

      And so it happened that Merriwell gave Bart instructions in that particular line every day, and Bart caught on rapidly. Hodge was given his turn at trying to get in the blow on Merry, and Frank kept him at it till he was pretty skillful.

      One day Bart went at Frank in earnest, getting rather excited in his efforts.

      "Keep cool," Merry advised. "Remember what I've told you."

      "This way?" asked Hodge, feinting.

      Merry guarded.

      "And this way?" inquired Bart, cracking Frank a dandy on the neck.

      Merry gasped.

      "And like this?" breathed Hodge, swinging full and fair on the point of Frank's jaw.

      It was a surprise, and Frank dropped.

      Just then the door banged open, and in trooped Stubbs, Browning, Diamond, Rattleton and Jones. They saw Hodge standing over Merriwell, who was down on the rug, and they stopped, their eyes popping in amazement.

      "What's this?" squealed Stubbs,

      "Ye gods!" grunted Browning.

      "Merriwell-down?" muttered Diamond.

      "Wonderful!" said Rattleton.

      "How have the mighty have fallen!" droned Jones.

      "Come in," laughed Frank, as he got up. "Just giving Hodge some pointers, you know."

      "Looked like it," said Browning,

      "What was he giving you?" grinned Stubbs.

      "He can't do it again"' declared the loyal Rattleton.

      "What's up?" asked Diamond.

      "Merriwell was down," said Stubbs.

      "Go on," they all urged.

      But both Frank and Bart took off the gloves and declined to continue the bout. There was a great deal of guying, which Frank took laughingly. Hodge protested that it was an accident, but Merry said it was an accident well planned. When he was alone with Bart again, he said:

      "You're getting there, old man. You did it fair and square. I was dropped nicely."

      "Oh, but you weren't expecting me to hit so hard. You opened up to give me a chance to get in the blow."

      "Nothing of the sort," asserted Merry. "Don't know how it happened, but I didn't open up intentionally. If you do it as slick is that with Badger, you'll have him-you'll do him."

      Hodge was impatient. He wanted to find occasion to pick up the quarrel with the Westerner right away.

      "No," said Merry. "Let him bring it on, that will put him in the wrong. He'll give you plenty of show in time."

      "But why is he keeping so blessed still?" asked Bart.

      "Is he?"

      "He is. Why, he hasn't opened his clam since that morning in your room. I expected he would hold forth on every and all occasions. What does it mean?"

      "You say."

      "It can't be that he's decided to quit, can it?" asked Bart, fearfully. "That would be a wretched shame."

      "It may be."

      "I won't have it!"

      "What will you do?"

      "I'll have him to force his hand."

      "If you do, I'll withdraw."

      Bart was hot in a moment.

      "All right!" he cried. "I can manage that. You've shown me his weak points, and I'll go to him whether you stick by me or not."

      "You won't."

      "Eh?"

      "You'll need me behind you when you go up against him, and you know it. If I'm not there to hold you steady, you'll lose your head and get the worst of it. Don't be a fool, Hodge."

      "Thanks! But what if the beast keeps corked up and never gives me a show?"

      "That will be the end of it."

      "You mean that I can't fight with him?"

      "Not without putting yourself in the wrong. If Badger has concluded to be decent, we must let him alone. I'll not sympathize with anybody who tackles him."

      Hodge was desperate.

      "You're a queer one,

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