On this particular evening we were sitting around the tables at our quarters, each fellow telling of some exploit of his previous life, and he had related some strange experiences of his travels. It happened that the night before, when I had made the statement that I once crossed the Atlantic on the _Lucania_ in six days he had flatly contradicted me, saying that the _Lucania_ was a much slower boat. It irritated me to have him contradict me in front of all the boys concerning a thing which I knew I had done. But I let it pass. This night, however, it was different. Heaven only knows how we drifted upon the subject but I happened to make the remark that students at Princeton were compelled to sign a pledge that they would not belong to any secret fraternity while they were members of the school. My friend promptly greeted this remark with the astounding statement, "They do not!" I said, "Well, I went to school there and I was required to sign the paper, and so I ought to know." He still persisted in his denial, placing me in a rather embarrassing position before the other fellows. I got crusty. I said, "Look here, son, you denied a statement that I made last night about a fact of my own life, and now you have done it again. You had better tend to your own business hereafter, and stop trying to make me out a liar, or there is going to be trouble." He said, "What will you do about it?" I replied pugnaciously, "I'll flatten your face, that's what I'll do about it." Of course, he said something about "starting in" whenever I got ready, and so forth, and the argument died down a bit. A moment later when I stepped outside, some of the boys asked me if I knew who I had been talking to. I said, "No, but I'll do what I said I would, anyway. Who is he?" They said, "That fellow is an ex-prize fighter and at one time was in the ring with the greatest pugilist in England." "Is that right?" I said in astonishment, "Well, I don't think I'll slap his face at all, and he can deny any statement I make with perfect impunity." We all had a laugh and in his presence thereafter I was very meek and lamblike. I pulled my horns way in.