“Yes, I do mean it. Ask my pardon, or take the consequences, sir!”
“What are the consequences?”
“A thrashing.”
“Well, I don’t wish to be whipped, so if you retract your insult to me, I’ll ask pardon for what I said.”
“I retract nothing.”
“And you will insist upon thrashing me?”
“Yes.”
“What with?”
This was too much for Cadet Dillingham, and he aimed a savage blow at Mark’s face.
It was cleverly caught, and quicker than a flash Mark Merrill had seized the cadet in his arms and hurled him into the water with the words: