"It would have given me great satisfaction to thump him," confessed Harry; "for I know it is exactly what he deserves. What were they up to, anyway? That's what puzzles me. I expected to find that they had done you up." "Oh, nothing of the sort!" "But they were up to some crooked game--I know it. I thought they had fastened the door, so that they could do the job without being interrupted." "Ha! ha! ha!" laughed Frank. "That explains why you looked as if you were literally thirsting for gore when you lunged into the room and grappled with Thornton." "Did I hit him?" "You had your fist clinched, and you may have given him a slight rap in your excitement." "Well, I did not give him that rap intentionally; if I had, he'd found something entirely different. By jingoes! I may get the chance to show him the difference some time!" "You'd better drop it, old man." "Eh? Drop it?" "That's what I said, Harry, and that is what I meant, my boy." "But why? I don't think I understand you. Those fellows are your enemies, and that makes them mine." "They have been my enemies, but we have had a peace conference." "The dickens!" "And we buried the hatchet." "Well, I didn't suppose you could be fooled so easy! I knew they were up to some sort of a game--I knew it." "Well, what sort of a game do you think it was?" "They're trying to fool you--trying to make you think they are ready to bury the hatchet, while they are still waiting to hit you behind your back whenever they can. That's the kind of chaps they are. They can't fool me, if they can you. If they can lull you into carelessness till their opportunity comes, they will drive the knife into you, and sink it deep. Don't mink I'm thisted--I mean don't think I'm twisted. I am dead certain of the sort of cattle I'm talking about. You will be playing right into their hands if you get the idea that they have let up on you in the least. When they get a good chance, you'll get it in the neck." "Well, Harry, you may be right; but I have reasons to believe that Flemming is anxious to call a truce just at present. He made a serious mistake when he tried to enlist David Scott against me. Scott found out all of Flemming's plots and secured enough evidence of the fellow's rascality to cause his expulsion from Yale if it were made public." "Well, it should be made public immediately." "Oh, I don't know about that! Expulsion from college might mean the ruin of Flemming's future." "If he keeps on, he'll do that, whether he is expelled or not." "If he does it himself, I shall not have it on my conscience. If I were to bring about his expulsion, and he went to the dogs, I might blame myself for it, thinking he would have done differently had he remained here. Do you catch on?" "I catch on that you are dead easy with your enemies till they force you to down them for good." "But when they do compel me to down them----"