CHAPTER V.
THE FINISH.
Diamond's recovery and the manner in which he resumed the fight causedgeneral astonishment. Even Bruce Browning had come to think that theVirginian was "out."
Frank was taken by surprise. Before he could square away to meet hisfoe, Diamond struck him a terrific blow near the temple, knocking himinto 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 besidesfists," 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 spotswere pursuing each other before his eyes. The floor seemed to heave likethe deck of a ship at sea. He put out his hand to grasp something, andthen 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 theholy poker! I'll take a hand in this myself!"
He would have released Merriwell and jumped into the ring, but Frank'sstrong fingers closed on his arm.
"Steady, old man!" came sharply from Merriwell's lips. "I am in this yetawhile. If Diamond finishes me he is to be let alone. The fellow thatlays 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 tostraighten him up, as if it had cleared a fog from his brain. The spotsdisappeared before his eyes and things ceased to swim around him.
Into the ring to meet his foe sprang Frank, and, to the astonishment ofeverybody he still smiled.
At the same time, Merriwell knew he had toyed with Diamond too long. Herealized that the Virginian's first blow had come within a hair ofknocking him out, and he could still hear a faint, ringing and roaringin his head.
Frank saw that the only way he could end the fight was to finish hisunrelenting and persistent foe.
Diamond fought like an infuriated tiger. Again and again Frank's fistcracked on his face, and still he did not falter, but continued tostand up and "take his medicine."
In less than a minute the Virginian was bleeding at the nose, and hadreceived a blow in one of his eyes that was causing it to swell in a waythat threatened to close it entirely.
The spectators were greatly excited, and not a few of them declared itwas the most gamey fight they had ever witnessed.
The front of Diamond's shirt was stained with blood, and he presented asorry aspect. His chest was heaving, but his uninjured eye glared withunabated fury and determination.
"Will he never give up?" muttered Harry Rattleton. "He's a regular hog!The fellow doesn't know when he has enough."
It was true Southern grit. It was the unyielding Southern spirit--thespirit that led the soldiers of the South to make one of the pluckieststruggles known in history.
While the fellow's grit had won Frank's admiration, still Merriwell hadlearned that it would not do to let up. The only way out of the fightwas to end it, and he set about trying to accomplish that with as littledelay as possible.
Once Diamond succeeded in getting in another blow, and it left a slightswelling over one of the other lad's eyes.
But Merriwell did not seem to know that he had been hit. He soon crackedthe Virginian upon the uninjured eye, and that began to swell. In a fewseconds it seemed that Diamond must soon go blind.
"Finish him, old man--finish him!" urged Harry.
Frank was looking for the chance, but it was some time before he foundit. It came at last, and his left landed on the jaw beneath Diamond'sear.
Over went the Southerner, and he lay like a log where he fell.
At a glance, it was evident to all that he was knocked out.
The boys crowded around Merriwell, eager to congratulate him, but hethrust them back, saying:
"It's the first time in my life I ever did a thing of which I wasashamed! Look after him. I'm all right."
"Say!" exploded Harry Rattleton, "you make me sick! Didn't you have todo it?"
"I suppose so."
"Didn't he strike you foul twice?"
"He knows nothing of rules, and we were fighting by no rules, so therecould be no foul."
"Oh, no! If he'd soaked you with a brick you'd said it was all right! Isay, you make me sick! Wait till he gets a good chance to do you, andsee how quick he will take it."
"He'll not be to blame if he tries to get square."
"Oh, go hoke your sed--I mean soak your head! I'll catch you some timewhen you are asleep and try to pound a little sense into you."
"Well, take care of Diamond," ordered Merriwell. "That last one I gavehim was a beastly thump."
"Let the other fellows take care of him," said Harry. "We'll rub youdown. You need it. Got any towels, Mr. Horner?"
"Guess we can find one or two," cheerfully answered Tad. "Come on,Merriwell. We'll fix you up."
Frank followed them into the room where the captured freshmen had beenconfined, and there they found running water, an old iron sink, a tinwash basin, and some towels.
The visitor was stripped and given a brisk and thorough rubbing andsponging by Harry and Tad.
Bruce Browning, with his mask still over his face, came loafing in andlooked the stripped freshman over with a critical eye. He inspectedFrank from all sides, poked him with his fingers, felt of his arms andlegs, surveyed the muscles of his back and chest, and then stood off andtook him all in at a glance.
"Humph!" he grunted.
Frank's delicate pink skin glowed, and he looked a perfect Apollo, witha splendid head poised upon a white, shapely neck. Never had he lookedhandsomer in all his life than he did at that moment, stripped to thebuff, his brown hair frowsled, his body glowing from the rubbing.
"By Jove!" cried Tad Horner, who was sometimes called Baby, "he's a JimHickey--eh, old man?"
The interrogation was directed at Browning.
"Humph!" grunted Bruce, and then with his hands in his pockets he loafedout of the room.
Afterward it was reported that Browning said the freshman was thefinest-put-up chap he had ever seen, but he didn't want to give him theswelled head by telling him so.
By the time Merriwell was well rubbed down one of the freshmen came inand reported that Diamond had come around all right.
"They're going to bring him in here and give him a rubbing," said thefreshman.
Frank hastened to get into his clothes, in order that Diamond might havea chance. Rattleton had brushed the dirt and sawdust off those clothes,so they looked pretty well, and Merriwell showed no traces of what hehad passed through when he stepped out of the little room.
Some of the boys were trying to induce Diamond to be rubbed down, but heobjected, declaring he was going directly to his room. The blood hadbeen washed from his face, and one or two cuts had been patched up withcourt-plaster, but his eyes were nearly closed, and he presented apitiful appearance.
Frank hesitated a moment, and then he stepped up to his foe, saying in amanner most sincere:
"Old man, I am sorry this affair took place. I had the advantage,because I have taken boxing lessons, but you made a beautiful fight. Ihold no hard feelings. Let's call it quits and shake."
He held out his hand.
Diamond's reply was to turn his back squarely on the proffered hand.
An additional flush arose to Merriwell's cheeks, and he dropped his handby his side, turning away without another word.
A few moments later Diamond left the building, accompanied by a singlecompanion, and that companion was not Roland Ditson.
Ditson remained behind, and he was among those who crowded about FrankMerriwell and offered congratulations.
"I was Diamond's second," said Roll, "but I am satisfied that the bestman won. He is no match for you, Merriwell. I shouldn't have been hissecond, only he urged me to. I was glad to see you do him up."
; He got hold of Frank's hand and held on, but received no friendlypressure in return. When he said he was glad that Merriwell did Diamondup Frank looked incredulous.
"As for me," said the victor, "I was sorry to have to do him up."
Somewhere about the place Rattleton had found an old floral decorationrepresenting a harp. He brought it forward and presented it to Frank.
"Take it," he said. "You'll need it pretty soon. Your wings must besprouting already!"
"What is it?" asked Frank.
"Why, can't you see? It's a harp."
"It looks to me like a blasted lyre," said Merriwell. "You'd better giveit to Ditson."
Then everybody but Ditson laughed.