The Chickering set was not regarded as worth considering.
Defarge could find little consolation in his attempts to deride and sneer at Merriwell, and it began to seem to him that all the old enemies of Frank with blood in their bodies and courage to take a stand against the idol of Yale had given over the struggle as worse than useless.
Thus, when the practise work was over and the men were preparing for the run into the suburbs, which always followed cage training, Bertrand sulked and growled and was disagreeable to every one.
“I’d like to get a good chance to do up Merriwell!” he thought; but he remembered how all his former efforts had failed and brought disgrace upon himself in several instances, and even his hating heart quailed.
As soon as the men were ready they left the gymnasium in a body and started at a brisk trot along one of the widest and most comfortable streets of the old city. The pace was not made too fast at first, and yet it was enough to keep them going sharply.
It was an interesting spectacle to see these sturdy-limbed youths start out in a body, their heads up, mouths closed, cheeks flushed and nostrils dilated. Surely a representative lot of young Americans they were.
Frank ran lightly and easily, seeming to find it no effort at all to get over the ground at the pace set. Hodge was beside him, and Jack Ready had swung in with them. Ready still ran in his own peculiar fashion, toeing in with his left foot, a habit he had been unable to break, try as he might. His cheeks were rosy and his eyes bright.
“Ah-ha!” he exclaimed, as he trotted along. “This is the kind of stuff that makes one feel fit to tackle the gods! Yea, verily! Why, just now I believe I could give old Thor, the god of thunder, a rattling good set-to!”
“Yet,” said Frank, “we know any amount of fellows in Yale who are literally grinding their lives out, and not one of them has sense enough to take sufficient exercise to preserve their health.”
“Which means that a few more fools will graduate near the head of their classes and go out into the world with broken constitutions. What will they be good for?”