Meanwhile the men on the platform, the German-American speakers, were holding a hasty consultation. Colonel Wentworth was advancing up the aisle, calling for three cheers for the stars and stripes, and the singing of the “Star-Spangled Banner.” “Quiet! Quiet!” roared Mr. Schaeffer, his Teutonic accent coming back to him. “Sit down. You have no right to interrupt this peaceable meeting, Colonel Wentworth!” “That’s the trouble with it! It’s too peaceful--too traitorous!” cried the former soldier. “I call on all good Americans to put an end to this seditious talk!” he shouted. “We’re with you to the finish!” exclaimed Jerry. “Put ’em out!” some one called. “Don’t stand for any seditious talk!” advised some one beside the colonel. Ned, Bob and Jerry kept together. They saw half a dozen soldiers, regulars from the recruiting station, walking toward the platform. Just then some one threw a chair over the heads of the crowd toward the platform. It broke some of the electric lights with pops like those of a distant revolver. “It’s a shame to stop our speakers!” declared a man next to Jerry, and his voice was unmistakably German. “Oh, is it? Say, what kind of an American are you?” asked Ned. “Chust as goot vot you are!” came the quick answer. “I show you dot you can’t----!” He aimed a blow at Ned, who, to guard himself quickly raised his arm, and, in so doing, accidentally struck the German in the face. The latter let out a roar, and at once began to fling his arms around like flails. “Grab him!” cried Jerry to Bob, who was beside Ned. In another instant fights started in several parts of the hall, and there were shouts and yells, some calling for order and others yelling just from excitement. “There’s going to be a fight!” joyously cried Jerry. “Stick together, boys!” An instant later the lights went out, and the fight, spreading to all parts of the auditorium, became general in the darkness. There was the sound of blows, the crashing of chairs, and the shouts of the enraged ones. CHAPTER X THE PARTING None of the motor boys had a very clear idea, during the mêlée or afterward, of what went on. Jerry said some one hit him several times, and he hit back. This much was certain because one of his hands was so bruised that he had to have it bandaged. Ned declared he knocked one man down, a man who spoke with a very pronounced German accent, until Ned rather spoiled the accent by contriving to have his fist collide with the mouth of the person who was muttering something about “_Der Tag_.” “His _day_ came right then and there,” explained Ned afterward. “Only it was good night for his.” As for Bob, he declared that, in the dark, he was struck on all sides at once. In the dark no one could tell whom he was hitting. The fight kept up, the din growing greater until it was deafening, until a cry for order, led by several men in concert, came. These men were the soldiers.