ed Teall was fighting mad. He was so
ugly, in fact, that he was borne to the ground, three of his own
classmates sitting on him.

"You're all right, Ted," announced one of his classmates. "All
that ails you is that you've got a touch of heat. Cool off and
we'll let you up."

"There's one guyer who has lost his hold on his favorite pastime
of annoying other people," remarked Tom Reade grimly.

"Dick's trick was the slickest that ever I saw done in that line,"
chuckled Dave Darrin. "But I wonder how our fellows tumbled to
the idea of calling 'bang' first, and then following it up with
'ow-ow-ow'?"

"Want to know very badly?" Tom questioned.

"I surely do," Darry nodded.

"Well, then," Tom declared, "I put some of the fellows up to that
trick."

Chapter VIII

TWO RIVALS PLAN DIRE REVENGE

"I wonder what Ted Teall will do after this when he wants to play
rattles on the other side?" inquired Harry.

Dick & Co. were now making the most of Saturday afternoon. Having
no money to spend, and no boat in which to enjoy themselves on
the river, they had gone out of Gridley some distance to a small,
clear body of water known as Hunt's pond.

When sufficient time after dinner had passed, they intended to
strip and go in swimming, for this pond, well in the woods, was,
by common understanding, left for boys who wanted to indulge in
that sport.

"I don't believe Ted will get very funny, in the immediate future,"
replied Tom reflectively. "His fellows came to the field, all
primed with a lot of funny remarks they were going to shoot at
us during the game. Yet the only fellows who got hit by any flying
funny talk were the Souths themselves. I have been wondering
if 'Bang---ow-ow' was what cost the Souths the game?"

"I don't quite believe that," replied Dick. "Yet I am certain
that it took a lot of starch out of Ted himself. Do you remember
that time when he went over and spoke to his fellows?"

"Yes," nodded Greg.

"Well," Dick pursued, "I've heard since that that was the time
when Ted went over and begged his fellows to 'can' all funny talk
until the game was over."

"But they didn't," chuckled Dan.

"That was why Ted was so angry at the end."

"Anyway," Tom insisted, "Teall isn't likely to bother us any more."

"Either he'll quit on the funny talk," agreed Prescott, "or else
he'll go to the other extreme and be more tantalizing than ever."

It would greatly have interested these Central Grammar boys