stand any more of your underhanded
work. Now you have your last warning,--and if you are wise you'll heed
it."

"Say, do you want to fight?" roared Jasniff, coming forward, and
sticking his chin close to Dave's face.

"I can defend myself, Jasniff,--even when a fellow tried to take a foul
advantage of me, as you did that time in the gym."

"Bah! Always ringing that in. I only swung the Indian club to scare you.
I can fight with my fists."

"Well, remember what I said, Jasniff. It's my last warning."

"Oh, come on--they make me sick!" cried Link Merwell, a certain nervous
tremor in his voice. "We don't want to listen to their hot air!" And
plucking his crony by the arm he hurried out of the alleyway into the
street.

"Shall we let 'em go, Dave?" whispered Phil. "I'd just as soon pound 'em
good."

"If we did that, Phil, they'd claim we were three to two and took an
unfair advantage of them. Let them go. They have their final warning,
and if they don't heed it--well, they will have to take the
consequences."

"I could hardly keep my hands off of Merwell."

"I felt the same way," said Roger. "He deserves all we could give him."

The three chums watched Merwell and Jasniff turn another corner. They
expected to see the pair walk to where the automobile was standing, but
instead noted that the two cadets entered the Oakdale Hotel.

"Must be going to see somebody," suggested Phil.

"Or else they have gone in to smoke and drink and play pool," added
Roger. "You'll remember Merwell liked to drink. He was the one who did
his best to lead Gus Plum astray."

"Yes, I remember that," answered Dave. "I am mighty glad Gus and he are
keeping apart."

The three students walked past the hotel, and looking in at an open
window, saw Jasniff and Merwell talking to a man who sat in the reading
room with a newspaper in his hands.

"Why, that is that Hooker Montgomery!" exclaimed Roger. "The fake doctor
who sells those patent medicines."

"We'd better not let him see us, or he'll be wanting a new silk hat from
us," murmured Phil. And he grinned as he thought of what had occurred on
the road on the day of their arrival at Oak Hall.

"I wonder if Jasniff met him at Dunn's on the river?" said Dave. "That
is what the letter requested, you'll remember."

"Wonder what business Jasniff was to aid him in?" queried the
shipowner's son.

"Maybe Jasniff is going to help him to dispose of some of his marvelous
remedies," suggested