“Old man, I trust you will believe me when I tell you I am very sorry this affair occurred. It was not of my seeking, even though I had no liking for Hegner.”
“You are not to blame in the least, Merriwell, and I believe the majority of the fellows who saw it will say so. Eh, boys?”
“Not in the least,” chorused nearly all those present.
“Still I am sorry it occurred here,” asserted Frank. “I am a visitor here, and——”
“That is a reason why we should express our regrets, not you,” said a member. “Hegner lost his head when he saw you were getting the best of him. He owes you an apology for that and for his insulting words just now.”
“Well,” smiled Frank, “I scarcely expect an apology from him, for I believe he is a fellow who will nurse his discomfiture and brood over it, thinking he is the one wronged. I am glad, gentlemen, you do not think I was at all to blame.”
Then Frank, Charlie, Jack and Bart went away to the dressing-room, where Merry stripped off and was rubbed down with a coarse towel before resuming street clothes.
“Merriwell,” said Creighton, as he admired the magnificent figure of the handsome young Yale athlete, whose entire body was glowing from the rub-down, “I want to say right here that I underestimated you previous to this. I knew you were a good man, but did not think you could make a monkey of a fellow like Hegner, who is a semi-professional prize fighter. I was afraid he would be too much for you, and you know I have had considerable to say about you to the fellows.”
“I didn’t know but he might be too much for me when I put on the gloves with him,” confessed Frank; “but that would not have killed me. I do not consider myself invincible.”
“Well, Hegner was a mark for you, and we have considered him as good as anything going in his class. It made him furious when he saw he was no match for you.”