. At sight of the boxing gloves May and Morton set up
a shout.

"Nope," vetoed Johnny, "Bobby and I are going to try them first!"

The youngsters were at first a little awkward with the unusual-sized
fists, but soon forgot a detail as trivial as that. Neither knew the
first principles of hitting. Round-arm blows with the head lowered were
first choice, of which a good ninety per cent. went wild. The other ten
naturally had little force, but there was a great deal of action. In
this game Bobby stood no disadvantage with Johnny. After the first few
seconds, finding himself, to his surprise, still unhurt, he sailed in
with some confidence. Accidently Johnny ran square against his extended
fist. It jarred Johnny considerably, and made that youth exceedingly
eager to get even. Shortly he succeeded. The pair warmed up. Affairs
began to get serious. In a brisk though wild rally they clinched, and in
a moment were rolling over and over on the floor, pummelling vigorously.

But immediately Carter jerked them apart.

"Here, that's no way to box. Keep your feet. Here, May, give us a little
help."

They pulled the contestants to their feet. Johnny and Bobby were very
mussed up and dusty. Johnny's nose was bleeding slightly; Bobby's eye
was a trifle swelled. The instant their captors released them, they went
at it again, hammer and tongs. They were certainly not angry as enemies
are angry, but as certainly for the time being, in the sense that each
was grimly resolved on victory, they had ceased to be friends.

How long the combat might have lasted it would be impossible to say.
Bobby had never before used his fists, while the aggressive Johnny, at
public school, was the hero of many fights. But as long as Carter
insisted on no rough-and-tumble this fact gave the elder boy little
advantage. The damage that two light-weights can inflict on each other
with round-arm blows is inconsiderable, and Bobby was of the sort that
punishment merely renders obstinate. Probably sheer lack of breath would
in time have called the battle a draw, but all at once Bobby had an
idea. So illuminating and sudden was it that for an instant he forgot
what he was doing. Johnny closed on him like a tiger beating him with
both fists as hard as he could hit. Even then Bobby's thought was not of
defence but of explanation.

"Hold on! hold on! quit!" he kept on crying in expostulation. "Wait a
minute! I got it!"

It is doubtful if Johnny heard him. Befor