“Do you deny,” he asked, “that you and Clancy went over to the other camp, yesterday, and stirred up a disgraceful fight with Jode and three of his friends?”
“No, sir, I don’t deny that Clancy and I had trouble with Jode.”
“Clancy knocked Jode down. Do you deny that?”
“No. If Clancy hadn’t knocked him down, I should probably have done it myself. He deserved it. Did Jode tell you that he struck Clancy first?”
“That is not true!” asserted the colonel. “You and your friend began the fight. All Jode and his friends did was to defend themselves. Any lad, with the right sort of spirit, will fight back when he’s set upon. Jode is not a coward. If he hadn’t fought, I should have felt like giving him a trouncing myself.”
It looked to Frank like a hopeless job, trying to set the colonel right. He was so dominated by the influence of Lenning, that he took for gospel all that Lenning told him—especially since Hummer, Lamson, and Parkman vouched for the truth of Lenning’s statements.
“Is Bleeker at Camp Hawtrey, colonel?” inquired Frank calmly. “Or Hotchkiss?”
“Those two fellows have made themselves extremely disagreeable to all the others in our camp,” replied the colonel, “and, very properly, Jode sent them packing.”
“Bleeker and Hotchkiss could tell you a few things about that row, colonel, which Jode and his friends didn’t think necessary to mention.”
“They’re out with Jode, and they’d try to injure him if they could. I don’t care to talk with either of them.”