In another moment he would have struck Hal in the face, but his wrist was seized by Dick, and some of the others stepped quickly between them. The girls were frightened, and June’s distress was completed by this ungentlemanly act on the part of her brother. “Chester!” she entreated. “For my sake—please! please!” “All right,” he said. “Take your hands off me, Merriwell. I will see that fellow again.” Then he strode out of the room, and the departing guests saw no more of him that night. CHAPTER VII. ARLINGTON MAKES MORE TROUBLE. In making their trip through that section the Great Northern Athletic Association had succeeded in arranging a game with Rivermouth, to be played the following Monday morning after the game with Fardale. Having been defeated by the Great Northern, the Fardale boys anxiously awaited the result of the game at Rivermouth. It was generally believed that Rivermouth would be disastrously defeated. This being the case, when a telephone message was received, late Monday afternoon, that Rivermouth had won by a score of five to three, few were willing to believe it. His disbelief led Anson Day to call up the captain of the Rivermouth team and ask for the actual facts. To do this Day was obliged to visit a telephone pay station in the village, and his return was eagerly awaited by the boys at the academy. It was one of those times when there were no drills or exercises of any sort, and the cadets were enjoying a brief leisure, many of them rambling over the parade ground, when Day, accompanied by one or two friends, came down the road from the village. “’Ere ’e comes!” exclaimed Billy Bradley. “Now we will know ’ow ’ard Rivermouth was beaten.” The boys flocked around Day. “What was the score?” they eagerly demanded. “Five to three,” answered the chairman of the athletic committee. “Dern my picter!” squeaked Obediah Tubbs; “that was close! I s’posed the Great Northern would beat ’em worse than that.” “But the Great Northern didn’t win,” declared Anson. “The report that Rivermouth took the game was correct.” “I knew it!” cried Ted Smart. “I was certain Rivermouth would win.” Somebody gave him a punch in the ribs. “You’re a fibber!” roared an excited cadet. “Look here, Day,” said Bob Singleton, “are you sure you have this straight? Why, it can’t be possible!” “I have it straight,” asserted Day positively. At this the boys groaned. “Well, wouldn’t that skin you alive!” chattered Jolliby. “Great Cæsar!” muttered Barron Black. “If Rivermouth defeated those fellows what are we going to do against Rivermouth Saturday? We have to play her then, and it begins to look as if we were due for a trimming.” “Oh! we could have beaten the Great Northern all right with Merriwell in the box,” asserted Hector Marsh, who had forced his way into the group. “We all know how the game was lost.”