He tried to speak, but the words were choked back in his throat. He felt that Merriwell was seeking retaliation, and, for that reason, had purposely worded his challenge in a manner calculated to cut him deeply. "Shame!" came from the lips of Tom Thornton. Still the lad who had given the challenge smiled. "I am meeting Mr. Flemming as he would meet me," said Frank, calmly. "I am using the sort of language he would not hesitate to apply to me. Of course I feel that I am lowering myself in doing so, but it is absolutely necessary in some cases to place one's self on the level of an unscrupulous enemy in order to meet and defeat him." All this was said with coolness and distinctness, and it was as if Frank were deliberately sinking the knife deeper in Flemming's writhing body. It seemed to be more than Flemming could endure, for he lost control of himself, and would have leaped toward Frank. "You insolent hound!" he cried, through his set teeth. Merriwell stood with his hands at his side, making no move, but he saw that Flemming's friends had grasped him and were holding him in check. "Steady, Flem, my boy!" fluttered Thornton. "Remember where you are!" "I will strangle him." "Wait! You can't do it here!" "Let me go!" "Thornton is right," declared Andy Emery, who had placed himself between the two foes. "You cannot fight him here, old man." "Then fix it so I can fight him somewhere--anywhere! I could murder him!" "You will have to wrestle him." "Yes," said Thornton, "you will have to do that, Fred, or his friends will believe you are afraid." "Then I will wrestle him--and I will break his back!" "You must calm down before you attempt it, and you must promise to wrestle fairly according to rules." "That will give me no chance to get square for this insult." "You can show your superiority by throwing him, which you will do, as you are an expert wrestler, and, for all of the other things he does so well, no one ever heard that Merriwell could wrestle. Then, the next time you meet him outside college bounds, you can force him to apologize." Emery nodded. "Thornton is right, Flemming," he said. Then, with a mighty effort, Fred seemed to gain control of his anger, and he calmly said: "All right, I will wrestle him, but I shall not be gentle with him, although I promise not to foul him." "Be as rough as you choose, as long as you keep within bounds." Then it was that Frank Merriwell was heard saying to the friends who had gathered around him: