“I dare you to come half way,” he challenged, and as the other boy hesitated, Don advanced along the muddy crossing at the corner until he was at about the middle of it. It was an old board crosswalk, and just beyond where Don stood it was so low that the thin mud of the street had spread a layer over it.
This it was that caused Allerton to hesitate. He had a natural regard for his polished shoes and carefully brushed clothes and, while fully as eager for the fray as Donald, he would have preferred a more suitable place to fight.
The taunts of young Daring, however, were not to be endured. It was really necessary to teach impolite Donald a lesson he would remember. So Allerton attempted the crossing.
When he came to the muddy section he halted.
“Come on, then!” he exclaimed.
“This is half way,” said Don. “Come on yourself.”
“You back down, do you?”
“No, I don’t back down. You’re the coward, Al.”
“Coward!”
“That’s what I said.”