When he had finished reading the challenge, Frank laughed quietly, but, on looking up, saw Hodge was scowling blackly.
“That’s a case of unbounded confidence, isn’t it, Bart?”
“Unbounded insolence, I call it!” growled Hodge. “Why, that challenge is almost an insult—it is an insult!”
“It’s pretty plain language,” Frank admitted.
“Plain! It’s rank! Why, the fellow says you haven’t courage enough to accept!”
“Well, it is an easy matter to convince him that he has made a mistake.”
“But he sneers at your pitching.”
“Possibly I may be able to take some of his sneering out of him in a game, if I happen to be in form.”
“I know you can, Merriwell, but the crust of it is what galls me. He says you have been overrated.”
“Probably he thinks so.”