Regulators remarked,

"Well, boys, I don't call this a paying business, trying to thrash a
boy who has done us no harm."

"That's my opinion," said another.

"And I, for one, wish I had kept out of this scrape," said a third.

"So do I," said the one who had first spoken.

"Oh, you begin to back down, do you, you cowards?" exclaimed Charles,
who was taken completely by surprise by this sudden change of
affairs. "_I_ never give up till I am whipped. If it hadn't been for
my lame hand, I would have knocked some of those fellows into cocked
hats. I'll fix that Frank Nelson, the next time I catch him."

"Why didn't you do it to-night?" inquired one of the boys, sneeringly.

"I've got a lame hand, I tell you," roared the bully; "and I don't
want you to speak to me in that way again; if you do, you and I will
have a meeting."

"That would be an unpleasant job for you, to say the least," said one
of the boys; "the most of us are heartily sick of your company, and we
have been talking, for two or three days, of sending in our
resignations. Now, boys," he continued, "this is as good an
opportunity as we shall have; so those that won't have any thing more
to do with Regulating, say 'I!'"