"Knollys, like all the rest, had sprung over the fence at the first alarm; but at that despairing cry he sprang back again. There was no hesitation, no waiting to see what the others would do. Swift as a deer he sped out across the shining and deadly expanse. As he ran, he stooped to snatch up a bat which lay in his path. It was a question which would win in the awful race; and the crowd of fugitives, checking their flight, watched in spellbound silence.
"The dog arrived first, but only by a foot or two. As it sprang at Wright's prostrate body Knollys reached out with a fierce lunge, and caught it between the jaws with the end of the bat. Biting madly at the wood, the animal rose on its hind legs, and in a flash Knollys had both hands clenched in a grip of steel about its throat.
"For a few seconds the struggle was a desperate one. The animal's strength was great, and Knollys had all he could do to hold him at arm's length. Then Will Allison arrived, panting, and conscience-stricken for his tardiness. He was followed by two or three others who had broken the spell of their panic. A couple of well-directed blows from the bat in Allison's hands stunned the dog, and it was then speedily despatched.
"Breathing somewhat quickly, but otherwise quite cool, Knollys looked down upon Jack Wright's gastly face.
"'Bert,' cried Wright, in a shaking voice, '_you_ won that scholarship! I just cribbed the whole paper!'
"To thank his rescuer, he felt, was not within the power of words; but reparation was in part possible, and his one thought was to make it.
"'We won't talk of that now,' answered Knollys. 'I know all about it, Jack! I saw the whole thing; and we just won't say anything more about it, old fellow!'
"But Wright had fainted from the pain and the shock, and did not hear the forgiveness in Bert's voice.
"The next day a letter went from Wright's sick-bed to the president of the college. Wright wanted to tell everything; but on Bert's advice he merely confessed that he had cribbed, without saying how, and resigned his claim to the scholarship. At Commencement, therefore, it was announced by the president that the Latin scholarship had been won by B. Knollys. Many conflicting rumors, of course, went abroad among the students; but to no one except Will Allison was the whole truth told. As for Wright, a new point of view seemed all at once to have opened before his eyes. The loftier standard which he now learned to set himself, he adhered to throughout the rest of his course, and then carried forth with him into what have proved very creditable and successful relations with the world."