cry, he rushed like a mad
bull at the lad he hated.

CHAPTER V.

THE FINISH.

Diamond's recovery and the manner in which he resumed the fight caused
general astonishment. Even Bruce Browning had come to think that the
Virginian was "out."

Frank was taken by surprise. Before he could square away to meet his
foe, Diamond struck him a terrific blow near the temple, knocking him
into Rattleton's arms.

"Foul!" cried Harry, excitedly. "Horner hadn't given the word."

"Foul! foul!" came from all sides.

"There is no foul in this fight save when something is used besides
fists," declared Merriwell as he staggered from his roommate's arms.
"It's all right and it goes."

But he found that everything seemed swimming around him, and dark spots
were pursuing each other before his eyes. The floor seemed to heave like
the deck of a ship at sea. He put out his hand to grasp something, and
then he was struck again.

Once more Rattleton's arms kept Frank from going down.

"This is no square deal!" Harry shouted. "By the poly hoker--I mean the
holy poker! I'll take a hand in this myself!"

He would have released Merriwell and jumped into the ring, but Frank's
strong fingers closed on his arm.

"Steady, old man!" came sharply from Merriwell's lips. "I am in this yet
awhile. If Diamond finishes me he is to be let alone. The fellow that
lays a hand on him is no friend of mine!"

"You give me cramps!" groaned Harry.

Instead of aiding in finishing Frank, Diamond's second blow seemed to
straighten him up, as if it had cleared a fog from his brain. The spots
disappeared before his eyes and things ceased to swim around him.

Into the ring to meet his foe sprang Frank, and, to the astonishment of
everybody he still smiled.

At the same time, Merriwell knew he had toyed with Diamond too long. He
realized that the Virginian's first blow had come within a hair of
knocking him out, and he could still hear a faint, ringing and roaring
in his head.

Frank saw that the only way he could end the fight was to finish his
unrelenting and persistent foe.

Diamond fought like an infuriated tiger. Again and again Frank's fist
cracked on his face, and still he did not falter, but continued to
stand up and "take his medicine."

In less than a minute the Virginian was bleeding at the nose, and had
received a blow in one of his eyes that was causing it to swell in a way
that threatened to close it entirely.

The spectators wer