"Yes, I know."
"I have an old score to settle with him, and I will settle it some way. I failed in one or two attempts to do him up, for——"
"You were altogether too bold, partner mine; and it's a wonder you were not expelled from the academy. You would have been if Merriwell had blowed on you."
"That's right, and he would have done so if he had known what was good for him. He is soft!"
"In some things he may be soft, but you must acknowledge he is hard enough in others. He has a way of coming on top in almost everything."
Gage could not deny this, and it made him angry to think of it.
"You are right," he said, fiercely. "I suppose I was foolish to fight him in the way I did. That big bully Bascomb got a hold on me, and he has been blackmailing me ever since. Hang that fellow! I'll choke the wind out of him yet!"
A crafty look came to Snell's face, and he said:
"There are ways to down a fellow without showing your hand."
"I suppose so; but it usually takes too long to suit me. I like to jump on an enemy at once, and do him up."