"Sit down," hissed the bully.
"But I have as good a chance as Fred," returned the boy.
"Never mind if you have. You don't need the money. Fred does, and if no one else enters, he can't get it."
Bart's voice, as he uttered these mean words, was intended to reach only the boys on his bench. But Bronson, being on the end next to Lefty, happened to hear them.
Realizing the significance of the forfeiture to his friend, the boy quickly arose, went to the platform and enrolled. Scarcely had he done so than there was a movement among the girls and Alice Montgomery entered her name.
The expression on Bart's face as his sister's action frustrated his plot to prevent the contest for the scholarship, was not pleasant to see, but it happened that only Fred and Margie were looking at him.
The gates being thus let down, three more students, a boy and two girls, enrolled, after which the entries were closed.
"You're a nice one, you are," growled Lefty, at Fred, as the students passed from the hall. "What did you enter for? You haven't a ghost of a show and you're leaving the team in the lurch. You're a traitor to Baxter—that's what you are!"
"Oh, you can get along without me, Lefty. I'm not the whole team," retorted Fred.
"You're jolly right, you're not," exclaimed Bart, pushing his way to where the two boys were standing.