“I guess they would, too,” said one of the boys.

“Suppose we get up a company of fifteen or twenty fellows,” resumed Charles, “and see how it works.  I’ll bet my eyes that, after we’ve whipped half a dozen of them, they won’t dare to show their faces in the village again.”

“That’s the way to do it,” said one of the boys.  “I’ll join the company, for one.”

The others readily fell in with Charles’s proposal, and they spent some time talking it over and telling what they intended to do when they could catch the Hillers, when one of the boys suddenly exclaimed,

“I think, after all, that we shall have some trouble in carrying out our plans.  Although there are plenty of fellows in the village who would be glad to join the company, there are some who must not know any thing about it, or the fat will all be in the fire.”

“Who are they?” demanded Charles.

“Why, there are Frank Nelson, and George and Harry Butler, and Bill Johnson, and a dozen others, who could knock the whole thing into a cocked hat, in less than no time.”

“Could they?  I’d just like to see them try it on,” said Charles, with a confident air.  “They would have a nice time of it.  How would they go to work?”

“I am afraid that, if they saw us going to whip the Hillers, they would interfere.”

“They would, eh?  I’d like to see them undertake to hinder us.  Can’t twenty fellows whip a dozen?”

“I don’t know.  Every one calls Frank Nelson and his set the best boys in the village.  They never fight if they can help it; but they are plaguy smart fellows, I tell you; and, if we once get them aroused, we shall have a warm time of it, I remember a little circumstance that happened last winter.  We had a fort in the field behind the school-house, and one night we were out there, snowballing, and I saw Frank Nelson handle two of the largest boys in his class.  There were about a dozen boys in the fort—­and they were the ones that always go with Frank—­and all the rest of the school were against them.  The fort stood on a little hill, and we were almost half an hour capturing it, and we wouldn’t ever have taken it if the wall hadn’t been broken down.  We would get almost up to the fort, and they would rush out and drive us down again.  At last we succeeded in getting to the top of the hill, and our boys began to tumble over the walls, and I hope I may be shot if they didn’t throw us out as fast as we could get in, and—­”

“Oh, I don’t care any thing about that,” interrupted Charles, who could not bear to hear any one but himself praised.  “If I had been there, I would have run up and thrown them out.”

“And you could have done it easy enough,” said one of the boys, who had for some time remained silent.

“Frank Nelson and his set are not such great fellows, after all.”

“Of course they ain’t,” said the other.  “They feel big enough; but I guess, if we get this company we have spoken of started, and they undertake to interfere with us, we will take them down a peg or two.”