ng to mob us, are they I
guess they can do it---but, fellows, keep in mind to pass some
of the blows back! When we go down in the dirt be sure that some
of the Fordham fellows have something to remember us by for many
a day! I'm glad Hazelton has already been sent forward in an
ambulance."
As Dick finished dressing and waited for the others, he saw one
of the subs dropping a spiked shoe into an outer jacket pocket.
"What's that for?" Dick demanded sternly. "A weapon?"
"Yes," sheepishly admitted the other.
"Put it in your bag, then, and let it go on the baggage wagon.
Fellows, we'll fight with nothing but fists, and only then if
we're attacked."
"But those scoundrels will probably use brickbats," argued the
fellow who had tried to drop the spiked shoe into his overcoat
pocket.
"No matter," rang Dick's voice, low but commanding. "If we have
to, we'll fight for our lives as we fought for the game---on the
square! Good citizens don't carry concealed weapons until called
upon by the authorities to do it."
"Bully for you, Prescott!" rang the voice of the coach.
"You here, Mr. Morton?" cried Dick, wheeling and seeking the submaster.
"Mr. Morton, you're not a boy, and you don't want to be mixed
up in such affairs. Why don't you start-----"
"My place, Captain Prescott, is with the team I'm coaching," replied
the submaster. "And I think the signs are that we're going to
need all the pairs of fists that we have, and, more, too."
The baggage wagon came to the door. Dick, Dave and Tom coolly
loaded the baggage on. The wagon started off at good speed.
Then the two stages drove up to the door.
"Pile in, boys!" called one of the drivers.
Neither of the stage drivers was in the secret of what was likely
to happen down the road.
The start was made, the horses moving barely faster than a walk.
By this time the athletic field was practically deserted. There
was no sign of the presence of the Fordham High School team,
nor of the bad element that Barnes had enlisted.
It was not until the stages had proceeded nearly four blocks that
Dave, sitting beside Dick on the driver's seat of the first stage,
caught sight of some bobbing heads further up the road.
"There they are," whispered Dave. "Lying in wait at the next
corner. They'll jump out when we get there."
"Let them!" muttered Dick. "They'll have to start it---but after
they do-----!"
The stages had almost reached the next corner. G
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