"That"s a lie!" sputtered young Dodge.
"If you want to find out, sir, whether I"m speaking the truth,"
d.i.c.k went on, looking at the stranger, "just ask any well-informed citizen of Gridley whether Bert Dodge and his chum, Bayliss, were really chased out of the Gridley High School. You"ll soon discover who the liar is---Dodge or myself."
"Hang you!" roared Bert, advancing with fists clenched. "I"ll punch your head off your shoulders!"
"Wait one moment, though," advised the stranger, stepping between d.i.c.k and Bert. "Here, young man!"
"What"s this?" Bert demanded, as the stranger forced something into one of his hands.
"It"s the two-dollar bill you handed me," replied he of the stubby moustache. "I reckon that I made a mistake in taking it."
"Aren"t you on my side any longer?" gasped Bert, in utter astonishment.
"I reckon not," was the crisp answer. "I didn"t realize that I was in such bad company."
"But you"ve only that mucker"s word against mine!" cried Bert, flying into another rage.
"I"ve watched you both, and I"m a pretty good judge of human nature,"
replied the farmer. "I prefer to believe this young man that you seem to dislike so much."
"You"re a nice one---you are!" uttered Bert, glaring in disgust at the ally on whom he had counted.
"Perhaps you can calm down, Dodge, long enough to listen to reason,"
d.i.c.k suggested. "First of all, I am going to admit that we did remove the front tires of your car and that we brought the tires here and hung them on that line."
"Do you hear that?" demanded Dodge eagerly, turning once more to the farmer. "They admit stealing my tires."
"I didn"t quite notice that the young man went as far as to admit theft," the farmer replied. "What I heard was that these young men took your tires. As yet I haven"t heard their reason for removing the tires of your car."
"The reason for doing so was," d.i.c.k went on coolly, "that we had some questions to ask of this fellow Dodge. We knew that if he had to come here to look up his tires, we"d have a chance to ask the questions. Dodge, you thought you were having fun with us when you decorated the entrance to that covered bridge with your notice about a rabid mastiff at large in that part of the country, didn"t you? You thought that a mad-dog scare would send us helter-skelter home. If it gives you any satisfaction, I"ll admit that the notice did startle us for a brief time. But we soon got at the truth of the matter, and learned that posting the notice was your act."
"Can you prove it?" sneered Dodge.
Ignoring the question, d.i.c.k went on:
"Perhaps, had your trick affected only ourselves, then the trick would have been only a piece of meanness without any very serious results. But are you sure, Bert Dodge, that no one but ourselves was alarmed by that notice? Do you know whether any woman traveling over the road may have seen that notice, and then, noticing any strange dog trotting in her direction was frightened, into convulsions, or actually frightened to death? Do you know whether some man, traveling along the road on really important business, read the notice and was afraid to continue on his errand, thereby losing a good deal of money through your foolish trickery? Do you know, for certain, that twenty serious consequences to other people have not followed on the heels of your stupid, senseless joke?
Have you any way of being certain that the sheriffs officers are not already searching industriously for the two foolish young fellows who took so many desperate chances in attempting such a "joke" as that of which you two fellows were guilty?"
"Who"s going to prove that Bayliss or I put up that notice?" sneered young Dodge.
"There"s at least one witness," d.i.c.k answered, "who would testify, at any time, that he pa.s.sed by you on the road when you were both laughing loudly over a joke you had played. Then there"s the notice itself. A handwriting expert could swear that it was done with a pen held by your hand."
"Where"s the notice?" asked Bayliss suddenly.
"It"s where we can produce it at any time that it"s wanted," Prescott made reply. "If anyone has been injured, Dodge, in health or in business, by your stupid, brainless bit of horse play and meanness, then I imagine that you"ll find yourself in for a serious time of it. So now you know why we took the tires off your automobile.
We knew that our campfire would show you the way to our camp, and that you"d surely be here to hear what we had to say to you.
Dodge, we don"t care particularly for you, or for Bayliss, either, but if the warning I"ve given you about pasting up such lying notices to scare people traveling over a public highway is of any use to you, then you"re welcome to what you"ve learned."
The coolness of this proposition was such as to take Bert"s breath away for a few seconds. When he recovered, he turned to the red-moustached farmer, sputtering:
"Well, what do you---you think of that cast-iron nerve and cheek?"
"If the facts have been correctly stated," replied the farmer, "I believe these young men have done you a service, and that you"d show more of the spirit of a man if you admitted it."
"Humph!" muttered Dodge.
"Humph!" echoed Bayliss.
Then, enraged at the tantalizing smile on Prescott"s face, Bert lost all control of himself.
Striding over, he shook his fist before d.i.c.k"s face, at the same time shouting:
"All you need is a tr.i.m.m.i.n.g with fists, and I"m going to give you one---you hound!"
CHAPTER VI
PAID IN PULL TO DATE
Then, struck by a sudden consideration of prudence, Bert stepped back two or three feet, looking appealingly at the farmer.
"Will you stay here long enough to see fair play done?" Dodge demanded of the farmer.
"If there is going to be a boxing exhibit, with plenty of science, and all fair play," grinned the farmer, "I don"t believe there are enough of you young fellows here to chase me away. Start things moving as soon as you like."
With that the stranger drew out a pipe, which he proceeded to fill and light.
"Get yourself in shape, you mucker!" breathed Bert fiercely, pulling off his coat and tossing his motoring cap after it to the ground.
"Come on---get ready!"
"I"m no rowdy," d.i.c.k declared coolly, making no move to put himself in readiness.
"No; you"re a coward, with a long line of talk, but no spirit in you!" jeered young Dodge.
"If I"m a coward, what possible glory would there be in your fighting me?" d.i.c.k smiled.
"Let me have the sneak!" begged Dave, stepping forward, but d.i.c.k pushed his churn back. Tom Reade took tight hold of Dave"s right arm.
With the prospects of an encounter vanishing, Bert Dodge"s valor went up tenfold.
"Get up your guard!" he roared. "I"ve been taking boxing lessons and I want to teach you one or two things."
"I haven"t been taking any boxing lessons lately," d.i.c.k remarked with composure.