It is time to show that it was _not_ through cowardice that I
did not return it. Will you fight?"
The answer was not prompt by any means, though every one in the school
knew that Eric was not afraid. So sure was he of this, that, for the
sake of "auld lang syne," he would probably have declined to fight with
Montagu had he been left to his own impulses.
"I have been in the wrong, Montagu, more than once," he answered,
falteringly, "and we have been friends--"
But it was the object of many of the worst boys that the two should
fight--not only that they might see the fun, but that Montagu's
authority, which stood in their way, might be flung aside. So Brooking
whispered in an audible voice--
"Faith! he's showing the white feather."
"You're a liar!" flung in Eric; and turning to Montagu, he said--"There!
I'll fight you this moment."
Instantly they had stripped off their coats and prepared for action. A
ring of excited boys crowded round them. Fellows of sixteen, like
Montagu and Eric, rarely fight, because their battles have usually been
decided in their earlier school-days; and it was also but seldom that
two boys so strong, active, and prominent, took this method of settling
their differences.
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