'Not they,' replied Allan carelessly; 'it's only practice.'
Marjorie's curly head rose above a rock behind which she had been lying perdu; and when she saw what was going on she jumped up and scrambled to the other side.
'Whatever is the matter?' she cried. 'Can't you make them stop, Allan?'
'Practice-fight,' replied Allan; 'don't call out, Marjorie; you'll distract their attention.'
Reggie, unused to fighting, soon began to have the worst of it, but he struggled manfully until a well-planted blow from Harry knocked the breath out of him.
'That's enough for a beginning,' said Allan. 'You've done not so badly, Reggie, for the first time, and you'll get into it all right by practice.'
'But what did he go at me for?' cried Harry, with a blank expression of countenance. 'I didn't do anything to him.'
'Nobody said you did, you duffer,' replied Allan; 'Reggie only wants to be able to fight the fellows at school; and you and he can have a go at each other every day if you like.'
'Dear me,' said Mr. Matthews the minister, coming towards the group with a concerned face; 'I am sorry to see that some of you have been quarrelling. Pray, what has been the subject of dispute?'
'It's nothing,' said Allan, 'only practice. There's no quarrel at all.'