Strangely enough, very few seemed to know who had struck Mason, and those who did, kept silent, not wishing to be drawn into the affair, being friendly toward Diamond. Jack was not at all excited or alarmed over it, and he did not show concern when he was told over and over that the giant freshman would be sure to make good his threat, if possible. "Let him try it!" said the lad from Virginia. "Next time I will finish him. I do not propose to fool with a beast like him." From the campus a party of students went direct to Frank's room. Frank had the cane he had taken from Mason. "It will make a fine ornament for my room," he laughed, as he placed it conspicuously over the mantel. "Jove!" cried Danny Griswold. "You should be proud of it. You took it from Mason so quick that the fellow was dazed." "That was the flittiest pring I ever saw--I mean the prettiest fling I ever saw," excitedly declared Rattleton. "How did you do it, Merry?" "Oh, that was a simple trick," smiled Frank. "It would have bumped the wind out of any other fellow, but it didn't seem to damage Mason much," observed Charlie Creighton. "It was Diamond's little rap that damaged him," grunted Browning, who had again captured a couch. "That was a corker!" broke forth Banny Robinson. "A corker!" echoed Halliday. "I should guess yes! It dropped him in his tracks, and I saw the cops hammer him over the head with their clubs till they were tired without bringing him to his knees." "I intended to lay him out when I struck him," said Jack, his eyes flashing. "I hit him on exactly the right spot." "I'm sorry you did it, old man," said Creighton, soberly. "I'm not!" returned Diamond, instantly. "He is sure to make it hot for you." "Let him try it! He was kicking Merry, and Merry was down. If I'd had an iron bar, I should have cracked him with it, after seeing him sink his toe into Frank's ribs." Merriwell took a long step toward Jack and grasped his hand. "Thank you, Diamond," he said, soberly and sincerely. "It is a true friend who stands by a man when he is down." He glanced around at the others a moment after saying this, and the eyes of some of them failed to meet his. They remembered how, a short time before, Frank had been somewhat unpopular because of his refusal to play on the football team, and many of them had turned against him. They knew well enough that Merriwell had not forgotten it, and he thought of it when he spoke. Diamond was one of the few who had stood by him when he was most unpopular. "The time has come," said Browning, slowly, "when this bully must be shown that he is not cock of the walk." "Who'll show him?" cried several voices. "Merriwell didn't hesitate about tackling him to-night--and got the best of him in a fair way. He struck a foul blow, and----" "A terrible blow it was," confessed Frank, soberly. "I felt as if I had been kicked in the head by a mule." "Oh, he'll kill a weak fellow with a fair blow of his fist!" exclaim Halliday.