“Hear the baby cry!” they shouted.  “He is begging!  Ha! ha! ha!”

Browning’s face was crimson with anger and confusion.

“You are an insolent lot of young ruffians!” he snapped, “and Merriwell is the biggest ruffian of you all!”

“Back it up! back it up!”

“I can!”

“Why don’t you?”

“I will when the right time comes.”

“What’s the matter with this for the right time?”

“No! no!  Turn to the right and let us pass now.  We will see you again.”

“We see you now, and we are going to raise you the limit.”

The sophomores held a hurried consultation, and then Browning said: 

“If you fellows will wait till we go change our clothes we’ll come out and give you as warm a time as you want.”

“All right, we will wait.”

“Then let us pass.”

“We’ll do that, but you will have to pass on the outside.”

That was something the sophomores could not do without yielding to the freshmen, and they felt that they had rather die than yield unless compelled to do so.

The sophomores stormed and scolded, and the freshmen, who outnumbered them, laughed and flung back taunts.

Then the sophomores determined on a quick, sudden rush, but it happened that the freshmen had decided on a rush at the same moment, and the two bodies of lads plunged forward as if at one signal.

“’Umpty-eight!  ’Umpty-eight!” yelled the freshmen.

“’Umpty-seven!  ’Umpty-seven!” shouted the sophomores.

Crash!  They met!

Then there occurred one of the liveliest struggles of the season up to that date.  Each side did its best to force the other off the sidewalk, and for some moments they swayed and surged in one spot.

At last the superior weight of the freshmen began to tell, and the sophomores were slowly swept backward, contending every inch.

Feeling that they must be crowded to the outside, Browning gave the signal for them to break and make it a hand-to-hand affair.  Then he grappled with Merriwell.

Frank was ready, and he willingly left the line as the freshmen forged onward.  He was anxious for an opportunity of seeing just what sort of stuff the king of the sophomores was made of, and this was his chance.

Finding that they could not hold the freshmen back, the sophs had each singled out a man, and the contest became hand to hand.

In a few moments several parties were down, and some of them rolled from the sidewalk into the street.

Now that they had been forced to do battle, the sophs were desperate, and they sailed in like a lot of tigers.

Rattleton found himself pitted against Andy Emery, and Emery had the reputation of being as full of grit as a bulldog.  He was on the ’Varsity crew, and he had a back and shoulders which were the admiration of those who had seen him strip to the buff.