Although it was a glum trainload of students who returned to Baxter in the evening, the sting of defeat was soon forgotten.
In due course, the Christmas holidays came and passed, and with the resumption of the session interest centered in the contest for the Scholarship of Science, which would be decided on the tenth of February, the first day of the mid-winter examinations.
Thanks to Fred's diligence and hard work, he was making rapid strides toward mastering the subject, and as the school settled down after the Christmas holidays, it soon became evident the Scholarship lay between Fred, Bronson and Alice Montgomery.
As the day of the examinations approached, the excitement over the award grew.
In some way, though Soda and Buttons declared they were innocent, word had leaked out that Fred was working for the money rather than the honor, and the presence of Alice in the contest gave the flavor of a second rivalry between Fred and the Montgomerys.
Yet had they known that instead of seeking to take the prize from Fred, Alice was, in reality, trying to make him win it, spending hours at Margie's house explaining problems to him, rehearsing recitations and coaching him in every way of which she could think, they would have been amazed.
But in their ignorance of the secret friendship, they saw only the family rivalry.
The wagering of money was strictly forbidden—and severely punished when discovered—at Baxter, but the resourceful students had devised a method to back their favorites, by agreeing to work problems in mathematics or translate Greek, Latin, Spanish, French and German for varying periods.
On the day previous to the examinations, Bart stalked haughtily into the gymnasium during recess.
"I'll do mathematics, French, Spanish and German for the entire Second semester against the same for a month that Alice wins over Fred," he announced.