rgument, in which Nappy
and Slugger had proved that they were anything but young gentlemen, the
girls had politely asked to be taken ashore. This had brought on
something of a quarrel, and in the end the two cadets had taken the
girls to a dock near the lumber yards and quite a distance from
Clearwater Hall.

"Now you can have the fun of walking to the school," had been Nappy
Martell's final words.

"And I don't think you'll go out with us again in a hurry," Slugger
Brown had added.

"I'll never go out with you again," Ida Brierley had answered.

"And I'd much prefer to walk to the school alone than to ride any
further with you in the motor boat," Jennie Mason had added; and thus
the four had parted, the two girls resolving in their hearts never to
have anything more to do with Nappy Martell and Slugger Brown.

CHAPTER XXII

THE MEETING WITH HIXLEY HIGH

Football talk now filled the air at Colby Hall, and for the time being
most of the cadets forgot about how the Rovers had been treated on the
lake by Nappy Martell and Slugger Brown.

Nappy was particularly angry, because of the way he had been treated by
Jennie Mason, on whom he had been sweet ever since they had become
acquainted. Slugger, too, was hurt over what the girls had said about
his meanness. But he was far more put out over the fact that he could
act only as a substitute on the regular eleven, and that Gif Garrison
had finally concluded to put Jack in his place. Fred had not won out
for the first eleven, but Gif had told him he stood so high on the
scrub that he might possibly make the team before the season came to an
end.

"It's all those Rovers' fault," growled Slugger Brown to Martell.

"Of course it is!" was the unreasonable reply. "I'll tell you, Slug, we
ought to do something to get square with those chaps."

"If I break loose and do that, it'll be something they'll remember as
long as they live!" declared Slugger Brown, vehemently.

Nappy Martell looked at his crony knowingly, and then glanced around to
see if anybody was listening.

"Let's do it right now, Slug," he said in a low voice. "I don't care
what it is, so long as we can get the best of those Rovers."

"We'll think it over, Nap. This isn't to be any one-cent, every-day
affair, you know."

"Right you are! I'm game for anything--just remember that!" added the
other cadet.

As Gif Garrison had said, there were three football games scheduled for
Colby Hall that Fal