"what's the matter, rexworth?"

so queried warren. ralph was standing anxiously looking around. he was perplexed, and did not know what he ought to do. these marks might afford him a clue to the mystery of his father's disappearance; and yet the chance seemed but slight, there were more horses than one going lame in one leg. if he stopped he would be late for school, and he did not want to get into disgrace.

he could not explain to his companions, for he saw that if he was ever to succeed he must keep his secrets to himself. a casual word, heedlessly dropped, that he was looking for a lame horse which drew a light trap might be enough to make the owner of horse and trap very careful that he should not be traced.

"it was nothing," he said slowly. "i was thinking."

"then don't stop to think now," was the advice he received. "we have been a little too far. you scudded along so, and we tried to beat you. we cannot waste any more time. come on."

he went on with his friends. he felt that it was[pg 66] right to do so. moreover, the man with the horse and trap must be in the locality still, and if he was not scared off, those tracks would be made again, perhaps even more clearly, and ralph might then have better opportunity of following them. it was the right thing to go back to the school now.

"i say," suddenly queried warren, as they hurried on. "has elgert said anything more to you?"

"no; i have not seen him, except just as we were coming out, when he came into the gymnasium."

"well, he is bound to do so, after what happened yesterday. i do not see how he can help it, or how you can avoid it. you will have to fight him, rexworth."

"i am sorry to hear you say that, for i don't want to be fighting if i can help it, and i would far rather be friends with——" he paused. he was going to say "friends with him." but that was not true. he felt that, apart from anything which had happened yesterday, he could not be friends with the son of a man who had said that his father was a thief.

"i don't want to fight him," he said slowly; and warren nodded.

"i know; but if he challenges you, what then?"

ralph looked grave. no boy likes to be thought a coward; but still he did not want to fight.

"if i can get out of it i shall," he said: and the monitor looked just a trifle disappointed, while one or two of the boys laughed.

[pg 67]

"it is not that i am afraid of him," ralph said hastily. "it is that i don't want to begin fighting, if i can avoid it."

"for goodness' sake, then, keep out of his way, and don't let him get to know that, for if elgert thinks that he can do it without the chance of a row following, he is bound to challenge you. he is bound to, anyhow, so far as i can see, and it won't be nice for a fellow in the fourth to refuse a challenge from the fifth. if it was one of the youngsters in the third, it would be different. no one would say that we were frightened to fight them; but in the fifth they are bound to say that it was fear, and—— hurry up, you chaps, there is the bell going!"

a scamper, fast as they could go, and they trooped in to breakfast, so hungry, spite of cake and milk, that not even the troubled question of the probable challenge could disturb their appetites. only warren looked across to where horace elgert sat, and he muttered to himself—

"i wish that we hadn't talked of it before the others. if one of them lets out that rexworth will not fight, elgert is sure to make no end of it. i understand why rexworth don't like it, and it is all right, but still—oh, he will have to fight, like it or not, and that is all about it."

morning lessons occupied their thoughts after breakfast, and ralph found himself quite eager to[pg 68] master the things which, while they were hard to him, seemed easy to his companions. he had already determined that he would excel with dumb-bells and indian clubs, and now it was just the same with lessons. he hated to be beaten, and he was not going to be beaten.

and already he reaped the reward of having put in a couple of hours' study the evening before, with charlton to lend him a hand. he was praised by mr. delermain, and rose rapidly from the bottom of the class towards the top, and, thanks to his firmness the day before, he had no more of the unpleasantness with dobson, who remained persistently at the very bottom of the class.

slow and steady, he found the best way, doing each thing thoroughly, and thinking only of one thing at a time; and that is always the best way, not only to learn, but to do everything in life.

he was quite surprised when the bell rang—the morning seemed to have slipped away, and he put his books away and went, charlton with him, into the playground.

"i don't know how i should have got on if you had not helped me last night, and i am very much obliged to you," he said. and the other boy smiled. it was very nice to hear any one say that he had been of use to them.

the pair sauntered across the playground, and presently they saw that horace elgert and some of[pg 69] his chums were coming towards them, and ralph stopped, a strange, firm look on his face, and awaited his approach.

up the others came, and elgert, hands in pockets, addressed him—

"i want a word with you. you know what we have got to do. you cheeked me last night, and you have got either to thrash me or be thrashed."

elgert spoke very confidently, for, as warren had feared, he had heard that it was unlikely that ralph would fight him.

"it is this, then," replied ralph quietly. "you mean that we have got to fight?"

elgert looked round and laughed. a whole lot of the boys had come up, seeing them standing there, and knowing what they would be talking about.

"hear him!" he said. "how innocent! he cheeks me last night, and then asks if i mean we have got to fight! yes, i do mean it! after afternoon school, the other side of the playing-field; and make up your mind for a thrashing!"

"i have not the slightest wish to fight you. i was going to say that i had not any intention of fighting you," said ralph.

and some of the boys groaned, and muttered "coward!"

"i don't care whether you have wish or intention," replied elgert, in truculent tones. "i have both[pg 70] wish and intention of thrashing you, and so you have got to put up with it, and afterwards beg my pardon. do you hear that?"

"i hear," was the quiet reply.

and ralph's eyes sparkled slightly.

"very well. this afternoon, the other side of the playing-field; and you mind that you are there, for it will be worse for you if i have to come and find you! that is all."

and round swung elgert on his heel and walked off, leaving ralph standing unmoved by his angry, insulting tones.

but if ralph was unmoved, his companions in the fourth were not, and warren said, almost entreatingly, as he caught hold of ralph's arm—

"look here, rexworth, you must fight him after that! it is no good talking, you must fight him!"

a statement which was received with approval by all the others there.

"well," said ralph, "if i must, i must. i don't want to, though."

"but for the honour of the class you must, or we shall never hear the last of it from them. you will meet him where he said?"

"not i!" laughed ralph. "if i must fight, i must; but i am not going to be ordered about by him; and i am not going to do anything which makes it look as though i were a party to the fight. if he wants me, he must come and find me, as he[pg 71] threatened to do. there, we will say no more about it now."

"he will do it all right," reflected warren. "elgert will find that he has gone a trifle too far."

the afternoon passed away in study, and whatever any of the others may have felt of anxiety or interest in the likelihood of the fight, certainly ralph did not let it trouble him. he was engaged with some sums which worried him a trifle, and when once one of his neighbours whispered to him in reference to the combat, ralph glared at him, and requested him to be quiet in a manner which there was no gainsaying. one thing at a time with ralph.

but when the work of the day was finally over, he strolled calmly into the playground, calling to charlton to accompany him. charlton, who looked so terribly anxious, realized that ralph must fight, and yet dreaded the issue, for elgert was no mean foe. charlton, who, in self-reproach, thought that it was all his fault—that it was only because ralph had stood up for him concerning the study.

"i say, charlton, i want you just to show me how to get on with cricket," ralph said. "every one seems to play; but i cannot make anything out of it, except that you have to hit the ball, and run if you can."

charlton beamed; this was a delightful experience for him, and he at once led the way to the playroom, and secured one of the school sets.

"come in!" he said. "i will soon explain the rules[pg 72] to you, and you can try batting. i will bowl for you as long as you like."

perhaps ralph was conscious that he was being covertly observed by many anxious eyes; but he gave no sign, nor did he move a hairsbreadth when presently he saw horace elgert coming in his direction, a curious and somewhat eager crowd at his heels.

"go on, charlton, don't stop," he said very quietly, for his chum had stopped, and was fingering the ball nervously. "fire away!"

the lad would have obeyed, but elgert had arrived, and he gripped the weaker lad's arm and twisted the ball out of his hand.

"you clear off!" he said. "we don't want one of your sort here."

but ralph remarked quietly—so very quietly: "charlton, you stay where you are."

"be off!" again said elgert; and raised his hand, to find that not charlton but ralph was before him, and to hear that quiet voice say again—

"charlton, if you budge an inch, i'll thrash you myself. neither you nor i can be ordered about, unless the fellow who does the ordering is able to enforce his demands."

elgert paused then. he was not a coward, but there was something very disconcerting in this quiet bearing, especially when he called to mind the fact that ralph had not been frightened the evening before.[pg 73] he had determined to fight, and then he had heard that ralph was afraid, and he had acted upon that information; and now ralph was not afraid, not in the least. and indeed, instead of being afraid, he was asking, still quietly—

"now, horace elgert, i am tired of this rubbish. what do you mean by it?"

"didn't i tell you to come and meet me the other side of the playground?"

"yes. and i decline to do anything of the sort. when people want me, they generally come to me, not order me to go to them."

"well, i have come: and now i am going to thrash you!"

"i see. start right away; don't wait for me!"

some of the fourths laughed. this was quite unexpected. elgert was manifestly disappointed, but he turned red.

"we don't generally fight here," he said. "will you come over?"

"no, i will not. i will not budge an inch. i don't want to fight; but if you start it, it must be here. and if you don't stand aside and let us go on with our game there will be trouble!"

"you fellows can laugh!" suddenly blazed elgert, turning towards the grinning fourths. "a nice thing to laugh at! he has got the proper chum—that's one thing! we all know about charlton,[pg 74] and why no one will chum with him; and this chap is not much better. i saw my pater at dinner-time, and a fine way he was in when i told him of the new boy we had.

"you know the yarn he told about his father disappearing? where has he gone to? people don't disappear in england, unless they want to! my pater says that a burglar broke into our house, and that he fired at him and hit him; and he says, from the description, that the burglar must have been the man that came to stow ormond with this chap, and passed as his father, and——"

"stop!" said ralph, very quietly still, but with an ominous expression of face.

but elgert laughed contemptuously.

"why, i don't know that i would soil my hands fighting with the son, or the associate, of a thief!" he said.

and then, suddenly forgetting everything in the feeling of hot indignation which overwhelmed him, ralph rexworth raised his hand, and in a moment his taunting enemy lay prostrate on the ground.