He had taken a dislike to the boastful redcoat, and as
he was a brave youth, and also had always found himself a match for
any man he had ever engaged in a physical struggle with, he had no fear
of this fellow.
"There's good nerve, for you!" remarked a soldier, admiringly. "How do
you like it, Coggins?" It was evident that this particular soldier,
Coggins, was not very well liked by his comrades.
"Do you think I'm a fool, to get myself laughed at for engaging in a
fight with a green country boy?" growled Coggins. "I'll do no such
thing." Rising, he walked away with a swagger, but he gave Dick a look
of hatred as he did so.
A number of the soldiers grinned, and two or three chuckled aloud, and
unless Coggins was deaf, he must have heard them.
"Would you really have fought him?" queried a soldier, looking at Dick
keenly, when Coggins was gone.
"If he attacked me, I should have protected myself," was the reply.
"But you couldn't have done much against him. You're only a boy."
"I don't know about that. I am pretty strong and am also rather
active, and I have wrestled with a number of grown men, and never
found one yet that I couldn't down.
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