"That is not the Baxter spirit, my boy," chided the headmaster. "You had an equal chance with the rest. Furthermore, it is very impolite to Mr. Bronson."
"I don't care. I won't sit way up front," retorted Bart, his ungovernable temper making him regardless of consequences.
This challenge of authority drove the kindly expression from Mr. Vining's face, and he cleared his voice to speak when Fred stood up, exclaiming:
"Montgomery can have my desk, and I'll sit up front."
"Thank you, Fred. Bart, because of Fred's sacrifice, you can have number seventeen. Bronson, I regret you should have suffered such rudeness at the hands of any Baxter boy."
This open rebuke to the haughty Bart delighted Fred's champions, and when the desks for the two other Forms had been assigned, they gloated over it as they filed outdoors.
In passing out it so happened that Fred and Bart were brought face to face.
"Grand-stand player!" hissed the bully.
"I don't play to grand stands, and you know it, Bart Montgomery. I was only thinking of the honor of Baxter," retaliated Fred.
"A Markham talking of honor," rejoined Bart.