CHAPTER XXII.
THE ONLY FRESHMEN AT THE SENIOR BALL Side-stepping, the freshman put up one arm to ward off further attack.
"Come, don't start a fight here, Fred," Dick cautioned the other, in a low tone.

"For one thing, you couldn't win anyway.

Besides, your father would hear the racket and come in." "How do you know I put Tip up to that job ?" demanded young Ripley, his face as white as chalk.

"Did Tip tell you all about it ?" "Not a word." "Then you don't know," cried Fred, in sudden triumph.
"If I didn't," grinned Dick, "you've just confessed it." "You tricked me---I mean it's a lie." "No; it isn't, either," asserted Dick, coolly.

"Though the second chap, in that mix-up in Stetson's alley one night, got away before I had time to recognize his face in the black darkness there, yet as I fell and grabbed for the chap's ankle, I noticed his trousers with the lavender stripe.