"Oh, everybody knows about that!" said Put. "It was the other affair I was speaking of. Didn't he force you into a duel with swords?" "That affair was not very serious," said Frank, evasively. "But I know it took place. He was a fire eater, and he had just such ideas of honor as Marline holds. Thought it a disgrace to fight with fists, and all that. You couldn't get out of meeting him in a regular duel, and you did so. I've heard the fellows talking it over. Let's see, who got the best of it?" "It was interrupted before the end," said Frank. "The sophs came down on us, and we thought them the faculty. Everybody took to his heels." "And Diamond would have been captured if it hadn't been for Merriwell, who stayed behind to help him out," put in Thornton. "The duel was never finished." "Don't try it again, Merry," cried Danny Griswold. "The next one wouldn't come out as well as that." "But what am I going to do?" asked Frank. "This fellow Marline will not let up on me." "Don't pay any attention to him," advised Little. "That's right, ignore him," said the others. "That will be a hard thing to do. I am no bully, as you all know, but I cannot ignore a man who tries to ride me." "Better do that than get into a fight with deadly weapons, and be killed," said Put. "Or kill him," added Griswold. "Never mind if he does try to brand you as a coward," advised Emery. "He can't make the brand stick. You are known too well here." Frank flushed a bit. "I don't know about that," he asserted. "It was only a few days ago that almost everybody here seemed to think me a coward because I declined to play football. They would be thinking so now if I had not played through absolute necessity." "But what you did in that game has settled it so no man can call you a coward hereafter, and have his words carry any weight," said Putnam. "I believe you can afford to ignore Rob Marline. He is sore now because he was unable to play in the game, and because you put up such a game. He'll get over that after a time, and it's quite likely he'll be ashamed of himself for making such a fuss. He's not much good, anyway." "Right there is where I think you make a big mistake," said Frank. "Marline has been underestimated by many persons. He has sand, and plenty of it. He is not responsible for his peculiar notions as to the proper manner for a man to settle an affair of honor, for he was born and brought up where such settlements are generally made with pistols." "Well, you can't fight him in the manner he has named, and that's all there is to it. Nobody will blame you for not meeting him. Let him go it till he cools off." "Perhaps he will be cool by the time his ankle gets well," said Griswold. Others came along and joined the crowd, and the talk turned to football. Everybody seemed to want to shake hands with Frank, and his arm was worked up and down till it ached. He was congratulated on every hand.