n anger at the sudden attack, and grabbing Davison by the
front of his tunic, slammed a hard right into the cadet's stomach.
Richards grabbed Roger, holding him around the head and neck, as McAvoy
swung at him viciously. Seeing their unit mate pommeled, Tom and Astro
charged back and the battle was on. The two units forgot about the watch
officers and the strong possibility of being caught and slugged it out
in the darkness of the quadrangle. The fight seemed to be the climax of
a long-standing feud. The _Polaris_ crew had first come to grips with
Richards and his unit mates when they were assigned to the old rocket
cruiser _Arcturus_. When the ship was scrapped, the cadets were
transferred to the _Capella_, but the rivalry continued stronger than
before. Time and time again, the two crack units had competed for hours
on the athletic fields, in space flight tests, and in the classroom. The
_Polaris_ unit had constantly come out ahead, often by no more than a
fraction of points, but their superiority was clear, and the _Capella_
unit could not repress its resentment and jealousy.

Tony Richards and Tom had squared off and were boxing with lightninglike
thrusts of their fists, each waiting for an opening. In back of them,
Roger and Davison were simply hammering away at each other's
mid-sections, and Astro and McAvoy were rolling around on the ground
like bears, growling and tugging. It was brute strength against brute
strength.

Tom danced away from Richards' rapierlike left, weaved low, and shot a
hard right to his opponent's stomach that left him gasping. Richards
doubled over and stepped in to bring up a solid right, then hesitated.
Richards was through. The blow to the mid-section had taken all the
fight out of him. Tom refused to pursue his advantage while the other
could not fight back. His anger cooling rapidly, Tom realized that the
whole fight was nothing more than a misunderstanding. As Richards sank
to the grass helpless and gasping for breath, Tom turned to break up the
other two fights. But Roger was just finishing his battle with Davison.
Feinting to the mid-section and pulling Davison's guard down, Roger
hooked his left cleanly to the jaw, following immediately with a
haymaker right. Davison dropped to the turf, out cold.

Meanwhile, Astro had rolled on top of the last cadet of the _Capella_
unit, and with his great strength, clamped McAvoy's arms to his side.
Face to face, the two cadets glared at each o