“Which badger? Why, ye don’t reckon I know the names of all the badgers of Kansas, do ye?”
Then, seeing the pun, he roared again.
Starbright came up to them, digging the snow out of his hair.
“How is your head?” Bruce asked.
Starbright put a hand to his bandage.
“Oh, I was so determined to do up Jack Ready that I forgot I had a head!”
“You didn’t fight as if you’d forgotten your head, anyway,” said Browning. “You kept it on your shoulders pretty well, I’m thinking.”
“Yes, that was a great fight, Starbright!” Merriwell declared warmly. “And you showed good leadership. I want to congratulate you.”
The words and the handshake that followed were more to honest Dick Starbright than had been the winning of the battle.
That evening Dade Morgan received another call from Donald Pike.