CHAPTER XI
A FIGHT AND ITS RESULT
"Dave, if you fight, and Doctor Clay hears of it, you'll get into trouble," whispered Roger. "You know what his rules are."
"I am not going to fight, but I'll defend myself," was the calm answer.
"Maybe you're afraid to fight," sneered Nat Poole, who stood close by.
Before the country youth could answer, Gus Plum sprang forward and aimed another blow at Dave's face. Dave ducked, but was not quite quick enough, and the fist of his enemy landed on his ear.
This aroused the boy from Crumville as never before. The look on the bully's face was such as to nerve him to do his best, and, casting prudence to the winds, he "sailed in" with a vigor that astonished all who beheld it. One fist landed on Plum's nose and the other on the bully's chin, and down he went in a heap against the boathouse.
"Have you had enough?" demanded Dave, his eyes fairly flashing.
"No!" roared the bully, and scrambling up, he rushed at Dave, and the pair clenched. Around and around the little dock they wrestled, first one getting a slight advantage and then the other.
"Break away!" cried some of the students. "Break away!"
"I'll break, if he'll break!" panted Dave. Plum said nothing, for he was doing his best to get the country boy's head in chancery, as it is termed; that is, under his arm, where he might pummel it to his satisfaction.
But Dave was on his guard, and was not to be easily caught. He knew a trick or two, and, watching his opportunity, led Plum to believe that he was getting the better of the contest. Then, with remarkable swiftness, he made a half-turn, ducked and came up, and sent the bully flying clean and clear over his shoulder. When this happened both were close to the edge of the dock, and, with a cry and a splash, Gus Plum went over into the river.
"Gracious! did you see that fling!"
"Threw him right over his head into the river!"
"The fellow who tackles Dave Porter has his hands full every time!"
So the comments ran on. In the meantime Dave stood quietly on the edge of the dock, watching for the bully, and trying to regain his breath.
Plum had disappeared close to the edge of the dock, and all the bystanders expected him to reappear almost immediately. But, to their surprise, he did not show himself.
"Where is he? Why doesn't he come up?"
"He must be playing a trick on Porter. Maybe he is under the dock."
"No, he can't get under the dock. It is all boarded up."
"He must have struck his head on something, or got a cramp, being so heated up."
Dave continued to wait, and as his enemy did not come to light, a cold chill ran over him. What if Plum was really hurt, or in trouble under water? He knew that the bully was not the best of swimmers.
"There he is!" came in a shout from one of the boys, and he pointed out into the stream, to where Gus Plum's body was floating along, face downward.
Dave gave one look and his heart seemed to leap into his throat. By the side of the dock was a rowboat, with the oars across the seats. He made a bound for it.
"Come," he said, motioning to Roger, and the senator's son followed him into the craft. They shoved off with vigor, and Dave took up the oars. Then another boat put off, containing Poole and two other students.
A few strokes sufficed to bring the first rowboat up alongside of the form of the bully. Plum had turned partly over and was on the point of sinking again, when Roger reached out and caught him by the foot. Then Dave swung the rowboat around, and after a little trouble the two got the soaked one aboard.
Gus Plum was partly unconscious, and a bruise on his left temple showed where his head had struck some portion of the dock in falling. As they placed him across the seats of the rowboat, he gasped, spluttered, and attempted to sit up.
"Better keep still," said Dave, kindly. "We don't want the boat to go over."
"Where am I? Oh, I know now I You knocked me over."
"Don't talk, Plum; wait till we get back to shore," warned Roger.
A few strokes took the boat back to the dock, and Dave and Roger assisted the dripping youth to land. Gus Plum was so weak he had to sit down on a bench to recover.
"You played me a mean trick," he spluttered, at last. "A mean trick!"
"That's what he did," put in Nat Poole, who had also returned to the dock. "I guess he was afraid to fight fair."
"I suppose you wanted to drown me," went on the bully of Oak Hall.
"I didn't want to drown you, Plum—I didn't even want to push you overboard. I didn't think we were so close to the dock's edge."
"Humph! It's easy enough to talk!" Gus Plum gazed ruefully at his somewhat loud summer suit. "Look at my clothes. They are just about ruined!"
"Nonsense," came from Roger. "They need drying, cleaning, and pressing, that's all. You can get the job done down in Oakdale for a dollar and a half."
"And who is going to pay the bill?"
"Well, if you are too poor to do it, I'll do so," answered Roger.
This reply made the bully grow very red, and he shook his fist at the senator's son.
"None of your insinuations!" he roared. "I am not poor, and I want you to know it. My father may have lost some money, but he can still buy and sell your father. And as for such a poorhouse nobody as your intimate friend there, Porter"
"For shame, Plum!" cried several.
"Oh, go ahead and toady to him, if you want to. I shan't stop you. But I'd rather pick my company."
"And so would I," added Nat Poole. "I once heard of a poorhouse boy who was the son of a thief. I'd not want to train with a fellow of that sort."
Dave listened to the words, and they seemed to burn into his very heart. He came forward with a face as white as death itself.
"Nat Poole, do you mean to insinuate that I am the son of a thief?" he demanded.
"Oh, a fellow don't know what to think," replied the Crumville aristocrat, with a sneer.
"Then take that for your opinion."
It was a telling blow, delivered with a passion that Dave could not control. It took Nat Poole squarely in the mouth, and the aristocrat went down with a thud, flat on his back. His lip was cut and two of his teeth were loosened, while the country's boy's fist showed a skinned knuckle.
"Whoop! did you see that!"
"My! what a sledge-hammer blow!"
"Poole is knocked out clean!"
Such were some of the comments, in the midst of which Nat Poole sat up, dazed and bewildered. Then he gasped, and ejected some blood from his mouth.
"You—you" he began.
"Stay where you are, Nat Poole," said Dave, in a voice that was as cold as ice. "Don't you dare to budge!"
"Wha-what?"
"Don't you dare to budge until you have begged my pardon."
"Me? Beg your pardon! I'd like to see myself!"
"Well, that is just what you are going to do! If you don't, do you know what I'll do? I'll throw you into the river and keep you there until you do as I say."
"Here, you let him alone!" blustered Plum, starting to rise.
"Keep out of this, Plum, or, as sure as I'm standing here, I'll throw you in again, too!" said Dave.
"Dave" whispered Roger. He could see that his friend was almost beside himself with passion.
"No, Roger, don't try to interfere. This is my battle. They have been talking behind my back long enough. Poole has got to apologize, or take the consequences, and so has Plum. I'll make them do it, if I have to fight them both!" And the eyes of the country boy blazed with a fire that the sena tor's son had never before seen in them. "I don't deny that I came from the poorhouse, and I don't deny that I know nothing of my past," went on Dave, speaking to the crowd. "But I am trying to do the fair thing, every boy here knows it, and—and"
"We are with you, Dave!" came from the rear of the crowd, and Luke Watson pushed his way to the front, followed by Phil, Shadow, and Buster Beggs.
"Dave Porter is one of the best fellows in this school," cried Phil.
"And Plum and Poole are a couple of codfish," added Buster.
"I—I—am a codfish, am I?" roared Plum.
"You are, Gus Plum. You say things behind folks' backs and try to bully the little boys, and in reality you are no better than anybody else, if as good. You make me sick."
"I'll—I'll hammer you good for that!"
"All right, send me word when you are ready," retorted Buster.
In the meantime Dave was still standing over Nat Poole. Suddenly he caught the aristocratic youth by the ear and gave that member a twist.
"Ouch! Let go!" yelled Nat Poole. "Let go! Don't wring my ear off!"
"Will you apologize?" demanded Dave, and gave the ear a jerk that brought tears to Poole's eyes.
"I—I—oh, you'll have my ear off next! Oh, you wait—oh! oh! If I ever get—ouch!"
"Say you are sorry you said what you did to me," went on Dave, "or into the river you go!" And despite Poole's efforts, he dragged the aristo crat toward the edge of the dock.
"No! no! Oh, I say, Porter! Oh, my ear! I don't want to go into the river! I—I—I take it back—I guess I made a mistake. Oh, let me go!"
"You apologize, then?"
"Yes."
"Then get out, and after this behave yourself," said Dave, and gave Nat Poole a fling that sent him up against the boathouse with a bang. In another instant he was by Gus Plum's side. "Now it's your turn, you overgrown bully," he continued.
"Wha-what do you mean?" stammered Plum, who had looked on the scene just enacted with a sinking heart.
"I mean you must apologize, just as Poole has done."
"And if I won't?" .
"I'll thrash you till you do—no matter what the consequences are," and Dave hauled off his jacket and threw off his cap.
"Would you hit a fellow when he is—er—half drowned?" whined the bully.
"You're not half drowned—you're only scared, Plum. Now, then, will you apologize or not?" And Dave doubled up his fists.
"I—I don't have to. I—I—oh!"
The words on Plum's lips came to a sudden end, for at that instant the country boy caught him by the throat and banged his head up against the boathouse side.
"Now apologize, and be quick about it," said Dave, determinedly.
"Oh, my head! You have cracked my skull! I'll—I'll have the law on you!"
"Very well, I'm willing. But you must apologize first!" And Plum's head came into contact with the boathouse side again, and he saw stars.
"Oh! Let up—stop, Porter! Don't kill me! I—I—take it back! I—I apologize! I—I didn't mean anything! Let up, please do!" shrieked Gus Plum, and then Dave let go his hold and stepped back.
"Now, Gus Plum, listen to me," said the country boy. "Let this end it between us. If you don't, let me tell you right now that you will get the worst of it. After this, keep your distance and don't open your mouth about me. I shan't say anything to Doctor Clay about this, but if you say anything, I'll tell him all, and I know, from what he has already said, that he will stand by me."
"Maybe he doesn't know"
"He knows everything about my past, and he has asked me to stay here, regardless of what some mean fellows like you might say about it. But I am not going to take anything from you and Poole in the future; remember that!" added Dave, and then he picked up his cap and jacket, put them on, and, followed by Phil, Roger, and a number of his other friends, walked slowly away.