"You may say 'rats,' but you don't know how you would have felt if you had been in my place. Just as the word was given to fire and I pulled trigger, Griswold, dressed as a girl, rushed between us. I fired, and, with a frightful shriek, he fell. Then I ran forward and looked at him. The moonlight made him look deathly white, and I felt sure I had shot him. I'll never forget the sickening sensation that came over me at that moment! The hangman's noose seemed to dangle before my eyes. I dropped the pistol and rushed away to my room. I think I was stunned, for Horner found me sitting on a chair and staring blankly at the wall about an hour afterward. Then he said the girl had not been shot at all, but had fainted. Say, Flem, my boy, it is utterly impossible for me to tell the feeling of thankfulness and relief that rushed over me. I felt just like getting right down on my knees and thanking Providence, but I didn't, for Tad Horner was watching me all the time, and I saw the laughing devil in his eyes. Then, within two days, I found myself the guy of the whole college, and, finally, it all came out that 'Grace Darling' was Danny Griswold in his theatrical rig, and I had been played for a blooming guy by Merriwell and Diamond, assisted to a certain extent by Horner, my own roommate." "And the only decent thing you ever did about it was to quit Horner cold. You've never seemed to have sand enough to make an effort to get back at Merriwell." "I decided that Merriwell is a bad man to monkey with." "That's rot! It's his reputation that frightens you. I'm going to watch my chance to get even with him." "So am I, young man!" whispered a voice in Flemming's ear. Fred whirled swiftly, and saw close at his shoulder a rather rough-appearing, smooth-faced man, who wore a wide-brimmed hat, and was weather-tanned, as if by much exposure. "Eh?" exclaimed the college lad. "Who are you?" "One who has a good reason to dislike that fly chap, Mr. Frank Merriwell," was his answer. Flemming was suspicious. "Why should you hate Merriwell?" he asked. "Because he kicked me," was the fierce reply. "He kicked you? Then you are the man he fired out of the boathouse? I heard about that little affair." "I am the man." "You should have known better than to try to bribe Merriwell to throw any sort of game or race to Harvard. That chap is so honest that he has wings sprouting under his clothes. He said you pushed a thousand dollars at him?" "I did--I put it into his hand." "And he flung it into your face?" "Yes, curse him! Then he threw me out of the window!" "Well, you do seem to have a reason for disliking him. What would you do to him if you got a good chance?" "Ask me what I wouldn't do! All I want is the chance!" "Can you keep your mouth closed?" "You bet your dust! I never peach!"