CHAPTER XVII.
TALKING IT OVER.
Before night nearly every student knew that Merriwell and Browning had fought a six-round, hard-glove contest to a draw, and it was generally said that the decision was fair.

Evan Hartwick seemed to be the only witness of the fight who was dissatisfied.

Roland Ditson had not been invited to see it, but he expressed a belief that Browning would prove the better man in a fight to a finish.
Several weeks slipped by.
After the glove contest Browning had very little to say about the freshman leader.

Whenever he did say anything, it was exactly what he thought, and it was noted that he admitted Merriwell to be a comer.
Evan Hartwick could not crush down his powerful dislike for Merriwell.
He admitted to Bruce that he felt an almost irresistible desire to strike the cool freshman whenever they met.
"I wouldn't advise you to do it, my boy," lazily smiled Browning, who was growing fat again, now that he was no longer in training.

"He is a bad man to hit." "It depends on what he is hit with," returned Hartwick, grimly.