“You knocked me down on purpose!” howled Jerry.

“It was as much your fault as mine.”

“It wasn’t my fault at all.  I’ve a good mind to punch your face!” And having gotten to his feet, Koswell doubled up his fists threateningly.

At this the young lady let out a scream.

“Oh, please don’t fight!” she cried.  And then she skated to a distance and disappeared in a crowd.

“You keep your distance, Koswell,” said Tom coldly.  “If you don’t—­”

He got no further, for just then Koswell let out with his right fist.  The blow landed on Tom’s shoulder and sent him spinning away a distance of several feet.

CHAPTER XXIII

THE SPRINGTIME OF LIFE

“A fight! a fight!” came from the crowd, and soon Tom and Koswell were surrounded by a number of students and some outsiders.

The blow from the bully angered Tom greatly, and skating forward he made a pass at Koswell.  But the latter ducked, and then came back at Tom with a blow that sent the fun-loving Rover into several students standing by.

“Say, Rover, look out, or Jerry Koswell will eat you up!” said one of the seniors.

“Koswell is a good scrapper,” came from another.

“I gave him one lesson and I can give him another,” answered Tom.  “There, take that!”

He turned swiftly and rushed at Koswell.  One blow after another was delivered with telling accuracy, and Koswell went flat on his back on the ice.  When he got up his nose was bleeding.

“I’ll fix you!” he roared.  “Come on to shore and take off your skates!”

“I’m willing,” answered Tom recklessly.  He knew fighting was against the rules of the college, but he was not going to cry quits.

The pair moved toward the shore, the crowd still surrounding them.  They soon had their skates off.

“Now, Jerry, do him up brown!” came from Larkspur, who was present.

“Give him the thrashing of his life!” added Flockley, who had come up.

“He has got to spell able first, and he doesn’t know the alphabet well enough to do it!” answered Tom.

“What’s up?” cried a voice from the rear of the crowd, and Dick appeared, followed by Sam.

“Koswell attacked me, and wants to fight, and I am going to accommodate him,” said Tom.

“Don’t you butt in!” growled Koswell.

“I won’t,” answered Dick.  “But I want to see fair play.”  He knew it would be useless to attempt to get Tom to give up the fight.

Without preliminaries the two faced each other, and Koswell made a savage rush at Tom, aiming a blow for his face.  Tom ducked, and landed on his opponent’s chest.  Then Koswell hit Tom on the arm and Tom came back at him with one on the chin.  Then they clinched, went down, and rolled over and over.

“Stop, you rascal!” cried Tom suddenly.  “Can’t you fight fair?”