As he did so he accidentally pushed one of the chairs over backward. It was close to the door, which, at that instant, opened. The flying chair struck the incomer across his shins, bringing an angry exclamation from the man. "Don't you know anything, rook?" demanded the man, Private Bill Hooper. Hooper stood five feet ten in his socks. He was just under thirty, a man who was not popular in the company because of his unruly temper. "I'm sorry," apologized Hal. "I didn't know you were there." "You'll be sorrier, now," cried Hooper fiercely. Striding up to young Overton, Hooper landed a sound box on one of the boy's ears. Hal flushed crimson in an instant. CHAPTER XV PRIVATE BILL HOOPER LEARNS "HOLD on, Hooper!" "Don't act like a dog!" "He's only a kid--can't you see?" Then something happened like lightning. Private Hal Overton had meant to take all his hazing good-humoredly. But a blow struck in anger, and without just cause, was more than he was prepared to brook. "Sergeant Gray told me I was not expected to stand abuse," flashed through his mind. So, instead of cringing away from a repetition of the blow, Hal took a sudden bound forward. Whack! "I have no use for a box on the ear," smiled Hal grimly. "So you can have it back!" Private Bill Hooper let out a roar, then sprang for the boy, intending to pulverize the young rookie with his fists. But five or six of the men sprang between them, forming an effective human wall. "Shame on you, Hooper!" "That's no way for a man to act." "Get off your blouse, kid," blustered Private Hooper, as he unfastened his own blouse and tossed it over the end of a cot. "You need a trimming, and you're going to get it right now!" "Here, kid, button your blouse up again," ordered Private Hyman. "You ain't called upon to fight that bully. Hooper, if you're spoiling for fight I'll do my best to be kind to you." But Hal, the flush dying from his cheeks, coolly continued unbuttoning his blouse. Then he pulled it off, handing it to a soldier near by. "Dress yourself, kid. You don't have to fight a man twice your size." "Let some one else have the job, kid. There's some of us here will take it." "The kid will stand up and take his own trimming," announced Hooper, with ugly emphasis. "No, no, no!" "Beat it, Hooper!" "Mates," went on Hal, as soon as he could make himself heard, "I'm willing to stand for anything that's coming to a rook. But this is a case that calls for something different. I've got to satisfy this man that I can stand up before a pair of fists, or he'll never respect me enough to let me alone." "Why, kid, a man of Hooper's size will reduce you to powder," objected Hyman seriously. "It's all right to have sand, and I guess you've got it, but you've no call to be slaughtered." "He'll thrash me," agreed Hal coolly, "but I'll get in enough on him to make him want to let me alone after this. I'm ready for the fellow."