"You lend me your coat, and I'll take mine off and make a bundle of it," answered Martell; and so it was arranged. The others clustered around the dripping youth and thus they managed to get him to his room without being detected.
"He'll never forgive you, Jack, for knocking him into the river," said Randy, while the Rovers and their friends walked slowly back to the Hall.
"I guess you're right," was the answer.
"And what is more, he'll probably try to play some underhanded trick on you," added Andy.
"I wish I had had the chance—I think I could have knocked him out myself," broke in Fred. "I'm not afraid of him, even if he is bigger than I am."
All those who had witnessed the contest were cautioned to keep quiet about it. Yet in a school like Colby Hall it was next to impossible to keep the particulars of the affair from circulating, and before long many of the cadets knew the truth. The majority were of the opinion that Jack could readily have defeated Martell had the contest been fought to a finish.
"He'll undoubtedly lay for you, Jack," remarked Fred that night, in talking the matter over in their rooms.
"Maybe he'll lay for you, Fred," smiled his big cousin. "You had better keep your eyes peeled."
"I guess we had better all watch out," was Randy's comment.
But for the next few days Nappy Martell, as well as his particular crony, Slugger Brown, kept to themselves, while Codfish was so timid that he hardly dared to show himself.