The kick in the shins did the business for him. He fell upon his hands and knees, and just then Frank struck out again. He was never so thoroughly aroused in his life, and his blows fell like rain upon the Princeton man's face and chest. The latter would have suffered a square knockdown if he had not been standing so that he fell against his comrades. The others, recovering a little from their first astonishment, made a feeble effort to close in on Frank, but it would have taken more than them to stop him then. He beat them off vigorously, striking without mercy at any one who came within reach. "Cheese it, there's a cop!" exclaimed one of the party suddenly, and they all took to their heels. Higgins by this time had got up and was supporting himself against a lamp-post. "Can you walk?" asked Frank, quickly. "I guess so," responded Higgins, so surprised that he could hardly speak. Frank took him by the arm and marched him back to the barroom, through which they went to the lobby, and then out by the ladies' entrance upon Twenty-sixth Street. The scrimmage had taken place so quickly and quietly that it had attracted no attention within the barroom, and as Frank and Higgins were not followed, it seemed probable that the cry of alarm about a policeman coming was false. CHAPTER X. THE FINDING OF MELLOR. "Now, Higgins," said Frank, rather sharply, as they were well out on Twenty-sixth Street, "what have you been up to?" "Why," answered Higgins, hesitatingly, for he had not yet half recovered from the surprise of the event, "nothing but swapping boasts with those Princeton fellows and refusing to drink with them." "It's small business for a Yale student to boast of what he can do," exclaimed Frank, in disgust. Higgins bit his lip and said nothing; although he was a freshman of but few months' standing, he had already learned that in athletic matters the word of a manager is law, and that a student in training would no sooner dispute his manager or trainer than a soldier would dispute an officer. "And did you refuse their drinks?" demanded Frank in the same sharp tone. "On my honor, Merriwell, I did. Do you suppose I would take such risks just previous to----" "Don't talk to me about risks," Frank interrupted; "here it is only the day before the contests, and you're not back at the hotel at the time you're ordered to be." "I know that," Higgins responded humbly, "and I'm sorry for it, but I didn't realize how the time was going by after I got in with those fellows. They're very pleasant chaps, and I must say that I can't understand for the life of me why it was you sailed into them so." Frank was too irritated to explain for a moment. It was very seldom that he spoke as sharply as this to a comrade, and he would not have done so on this occasion if he had not been so anxious for the success of Yale in every possible event.