“Every one of you! Five against one; you wouldn’t dare attack me singly.”
“I wouldn’t, hooh? Boys,” added the bully, addressing his companions, “this lily is my game. You don’t have any put here. Understand?”
They sourly nodded, though little or no reliance could be placed on any promise they might make.
“Will you agree to fight me alone?” asked Harvey.
“Of course; that suits me down to the ground.”
“And the rest are not to mix in, no matter what happens?”
“Hain’t I told you that? What ails you?”
“That suits me,” replied Harvey, who coolly took off his coat and flung it across the footrest of the aeroplane. If anything like fair play was shown him, he had no fear of the result, for though his antagonist was taller and possibly stronger, he knew nothing of the science of boxing. Having doffed his outer garment, Harvey proceeded in the same deliberate fashion to roll up his sleeves. Then he poised his right fist a few inches in front of his chest and diagonally across it, with the left extended toward his antagonist. The left foot was advanced so that the weight of his body rested on the right leg, so balanced that he could leap forward or backward as might suddenly become necessary. His handsome face was a shade paler, and he compressed his lips as he said in a quiet even voice:
“I’m ready!”
The prospect of a fight between two men or even boys is always sure to interest the spectators no matter who they may be. Every one of the five men was in a state of delighted expectation, for not an individual felt the faintest doubt that the dandified youth was about to undergo the beating of his life. The four were ready to promise they would remain neutral, for they could not believe a possibility existed of their champion needing help.