"Let me introduce myself," said the tall boy. "I'm Bassett, the Western Whirlwind, manager of Terrible Turner, the fighting bear-cat."
All of the boys laughed or snickered, and Teeny-bits smiled expectantly.
"Here is Terrible Turner himself," said Bassett, laying his hand on the shoulder of a pug-nosed lad whose freckled face wore a queer look of combined insolence and friendliness. "For the honor of the school he will wrestle you to test your mettle—he's a wrestler from way-back. Do you accept the challenge?"
Teeny-bits looked at Terrible Turner and then at Bassett, the Whirlwind.
"No," he said, "I don't want to wrestle in these clothes."
"Take off your coat, then; we consider it an insult to the whole school if you don't accept the challenge. Are you afraid of Terrible Turner? He's no bigger than you are."
Teeny-bits saw that the freckle-faced boy was in fact no larger than he, but he did not seem any the more inclined to accept the call to combat.
After waiting a moment, Bassett said in a taunting voice: "Friends, let me introduce you to Teeny-bits, the quitter."
The words had an effect that the Western Whirlwind scarcely expected. Teeny-bits solemnly pulled off his coat, laid it on the bed, and replied to the challenge.
"I won't wrestle with Turner," he said. "He's younger than I am. I'll wrestle with you."