t in those wet clothes. Finish it some
other time."

"I won't!" came the ejaculation, and then the dripping boy hurled
himself once more at Jack.

But he was blinded by water and mud as well as by rage; and the oldest
Rover boy easily evaded the new onslaught. Then, of a sudden, he
reached out and caught Martell by both wrists and held him in a
vise-like grasp.

"Now, see here, Martell, don't be foolish," he said sternly. "I don't
want to fight a fellow who has been overboard and is wringing wet.
You'll catch your death of cold hanging around here in this night air.
Go on back to the Hall and change your clothing. If you want to finish
this some other time, I'll be ready for you."

"That's the talk!" added Spouter.

"It would be foolish to go on in this condition," remarked Gif. "Call
it off, by all means."

"You might as well do it," came from Slugger Brown. "You wouldn't have
any kind of a fair show, Nappy--after having been in the river, and
after having had to lick the other Rover first."

"He didn't lick me!" burst out Fred, indignantly.

More words followed, but in the end Nappy Martell consented to return
to the Hall and went off in company with Slugger Brown, Codfish, and
one or two more friends who had chanced to come up.

"You'll have to slip in on the sly, or else somebody may ask some
unpleasant questions," remarked Slugger Brown on the way to the school.

"You lend me your coat, and I'll take mine off and make a bundle of
it," answered Martell; and so it was arranged. The others clustered
around the dripping youth and thus they managed to get him to his room
without being detected.

"He'll never forgive you, Jack, for knocking him into the river," said
Randy, while the Rovers and their friends walked slowly back to the
Hall.

"I guess you're right," was the answer.

"And what is more, he'll probably try to play some underhanded trick on
you," added Andy.

"I wish I had had the chance--I think I could have knocked him out
myself," broke in Fred. "I'm not afraid of him, even if he is bigger
than I am."

All those who had witnessed the contest were cautioned to keep quiet
about it. Yet in a school like Colby Hall it was next to impossible to
keep the particulars of the affair from circulating, and before long
many of the cadets knew the truth. The majority were of the opinion
that Jack could readily have defeated Martell had the contest been
fought to a finish.

"He'll undoubtedly lay fo