"It's the spirit of the thing one kicks at—the spite, the injustice! Not the loss of the half!" declaimed Mason with warmth.
"Let's pay 'em out!" said Simmons.
"How, Lew?" Hughes put the question, but all waited eagerly for the answer.
Simmons might be small, but he was brimful of bright ideas.
"Fight," he replied. "We're much fewer, but it would be mostly a matter of siege and stratagem, and if we planned it out, I bet we could give them a wipe-down."
"I mayn't fight," said Frere sadly. "They won't allow me to."
"And I'm awfully afraid I can't," added Hughes.
"What's more, you sha'n't, Ethel!" said Simmons, who was amusingly careful of his friend's health. "There'll be lots of quiet work for you and Frere—scouting and so forth."
"I'm nuts on fighting," put in Armitage.
"As for me, I'm spoiling for the fray," laughed Mason, exhibiting the muscle of his arm with great pride.