plaints and delinquencies awaited him. Among these the only one very serious was the burning of a haystack belonging to a farmer named Wadsworth.
Suspicion had pointed to the Banbury crowd. The farmer had once caught several members of that group smoking in his barn, and had driven them out violently. Banbury had threatened revenge, and the day before Frank had returned from his trip in the covered wagon one of Farmer Wadsworth's haystacks had burned to the ground.
Banbury had been summoned to the office of the president. Just now returning from it, he had started the present fight.
As Frank and his crowd reached the scene of the conflict and joined the ring about the combatants Banbury struck out with a blow that sent Gill Mace reeling to the ground with a bloody nose.
"Take that, you sneak!" shouted Banbury furiously.
"Hello!" exclaimed Bob Upton. "He knows his right name at last."
"I'll fix you," blubbered Gill, "you great big coward!"
"You shut up, or I'll give you worse," threatened Banbury. "A nice fellow you are! Went and peached on me about that haystack."
