Dick’s eyes flashed with angry indignation.
“I am not afraid of anything of the sort!” he asserted.
“Oh, then you do not care to become as strong as the boys who graduate from Fardale Academy?”
“I don’t care anything about your old academy!” cried Dick, his cheeks burning and his hands clenched. “I don’t believe your stories about great college athletes. I know you’re not weak, but I’ll bet others are.”
“Hodge is another. You have seen him.”
“Well, that’s only two; and I don’t believe you two are equal to Western men.”
“All my friends,” said Merriwell, “are strong and athletic. You may have an opportunity to see another one of them when Hodge gets back from Denver. He has gone there to meet one of my college chums, who has come West to spend the summer vacation. I have written to several others, and, unless I am much disappointed, you’ll have an opportunity of seeing what sort of fellows they are before very long.”
“I don’t care anything about them,” said Dick sulkily.
“Then I’ll make you care about them,” was Frank’s quiet assertion.
“You can’t!” cried the boy, all his spirit of opposition awakened instantly. “You can’t make me do anything!”