“Engage!”
Click! The foils touched and slid along each other lightly.
Then followed such a display of light-footedness, agility, and skill as those present had never before witnessed. In a very few seconds it became evident to all that the stranger with the scarred face was wonderfully clever, but, with all his cleverness, he failed in his first four attempts to count on Merriwell. A backward leap, a quick side-step, or a simple turn of the wrist sufficed to enable Frank to escape in each instance.
But in the meantime Merry had made two attempts, and each had been balked with equal ease.
“Ye gods!” breathed Jack Ready. “Here is where we get the real article, and no discount!”
Then, of a sudden, to the astonishment of every spectator, the stranger tried Frank Merriwell’s own particular and peculiar thrust. With shortened guard, he dropped like a flash, his body straightening out and the fingers of his left hand resting on the floor, while his foil flashed straight out in a long thrust.
It counted!
The first point had been made by Hawkins.
It was with difficulty that Bart Hodge choked back an expression of rage and dismay.
Packard smiled. So did Frank Merriwell! The scarred face of the strange youth remained hideously expressionless.