This insolent and insulting note brought cries of anger from the listening lads, and when Dobbs finished reading, the entire club was in an uproar. On all sides fierce denunciations of Harlow were to be heard. The things said about Rolf were far from complimentary.
Spencer, who was president of the club, found some difficulty in calling the excited and enraged boys to order. A dozen times he hammered on the table before him with his gavel, sharply commanding them to sit down and be still. At last they subsided, grumblingly, scowling and muttering to each other.
Kent then arose and said:
“Gentlemen, we should thank Mr. Rolf Harlow for saving us the trouble of an investigation by frankly acknowledging himself the contemptible and pusillanimous scoundrel which he is. A fellow who could make such a confession without shame—indeed, a fellow who could make it boastingly, as this fellow did, is not worthy an instant’s consideration from gentlemen!”
“Right! right!” cried the boys.
“All there is to be considered in connection with this matter, then, is whether Alexandria was concerned in this dirty game or not.”
“But he says Alexandria was not,” quickly said a boy by the name of Anson Addison.
“And I would not believe him under any circumstances!” cried Fred Dobbs.
Then arose another discussion, which ended in the appointment of a committee to discover, if possible, if the Alexandria Club had resorted to such a sneaking and ungentlemanly trick.
The committee listened to what Frank and Jack had to tell of the conversation they had overheard between Harlow and the spy. They looked serious, and were of the opinion that a further investigation seemed certain to prove beyond a doubt that Alexandria, enraged by their defeat of the previous season, had resorted to unfair means to win back the title of “champions.”