After supper the boys had an hour off. Some spent the time in the library reading, while others drifted into the gymnasium.
Jack had some studies to attend to, and went to an open classroom. Pepper walked to the gymnasium, accompanied by Andy Snow.
Both boys were soon exercising on the rings, and Andy showed what he could do on a turning bar,—doing the “giant swing” and other difficult feats.
While they were exercising, Mumps, the toady to Dan Baxter, came in, followed by a new student named Reff Ritter.
Reff Ritter was a youth who had a very high opinion of himself. His parents were fairly well off and the boy had traveled a good deal in foreign countries. Reff had an idea that he could do almost anything, and he loved to boast of his ability and also to boast of where he had been and what he had seen. A few of the boys, including Mumps, toadied to him, but the majority voted the newcomer “a pill.” He had tried to become friendly with Jack and Pepper, but both had tired of his everlasting boastings.
“Are you a gymnast?” asked Mumps, as he and Reff Ritter came to a halt close to where Andy and Pepper were practicing.
“Oh, yes, certainly!” exclaimed Ritter, in a loud voice. “I took some lessons in New York and I finished up while I was in London and Berlin. A German instructor—one of the Turn-verein men—taught me a lot of tricks.”
“What do you think of that?” went on Mumps, as Andy made a swing on the rings.
“Fair, only fair,” drawled Reff Ritter. “Not at all graceful. Now when I was stopping at Madrid, there was a Spaniard there who showed me how to do a turn like that, and it was perfection, I can assure you.”
Andy heard the remark, and it made his ears tingle. He gave a swing and landed on the floor in front of Ritter and Mumps.