Somebody laughed outright.
Almost frothing at the mouth, the fallen fellow leaped to his feet. For a moment he stood glaring at Frank, and then, with a cry of rage, he threw off both gloves and leaped forward!
“I know when you try a foul!” he grated. “Two can play at the same trick!”
Then he tried to smash Merriwell in the face with his bare fist.
Frank was not in the least excited, and he did not attempt to get the gloves off. He met Hegner, parried his first blow, gave him a jolt that drove him back two steps, followed him up and came in with a swinging smash that landed on the fellow’s jaw.
Hegner was literally lifted off his feet and sent flying through the air. His head struck against the hard wall with a resounding crack, and then he dropped to the floor, where he lay in a limp and motionless heap.
CHAPTER XXXII—A SURPRISE PARTY
“I am sorry it was necessary to strike him such a blow,” said Frank, as he deliberately removed the gloves from his hands; “but I call on you all to bear witness that he came at me with his bare fists, and I was forced to defend myself.”
“That’s right,” said Charlie Creighton, quickly. “Hegner had no right to do such a thing. You would not have been to blame if you had got off your glove and struck him.”
To this a number of the club members agreed, while some were silent. Hank Burk and two others bent over Hegner and tried to arouse him, but the fellow had been severely stunned when his head cracked against the wall and it was some time before he seemed to realize what had happened.